Thomas And The Secret Of The Rails
by Stephanie Nova Rose Allen
Summary: It has been years since the last time Thomas was on an adventure. But, somehow, out of the blue, someone arrived into his world, on accident. After she appeared into the world, chaos entered, magic slowly disappearing from the face of the earth, and evil slowly rising. Can she, Thomas, and few old and new friends of his find the magic before everything come out of hand?
1. The Wrong Train

Stephanie panicked as she ran through the tight crowds as fast as she could.

She could not miss the train now!

Her legs ran as fast as she could, trying to catch up to it before it could leave the station.

Since there were many people around in the station, she could not show her powers publicly.

People would be afraid of her and call the police on her, or worse, get the Pentagon to chase after her if she even used teleportation powers.

So, she tried doing the best she can without showing them.

Stephanie zoomed through the station, weaved through the crowds while pardoning herself, and jumped over objects without hitting them on accident.

"Excuse me!" Stephanie pardoned herself as she passed an elderly man with a teenager.

"Slow down, ma'am!" a conductor called after her before she disappears into the crowd again. "Or else you might accidentally go into someone!"

"Sorry!" Stephanie called over her shoulder quickly, before speeding up slightly.

"_All passengers board the train on platform 2,_" the voice on the speakers spoke. "_Where your train is about to leave._"

Stephanie sped up faster to catch the train, weaving through the tight crowds and pardoning herself along the way.

But before she could reach the platform, she tripped over something that got in her way, causing her to yelp, along with the object she stumbled over too.

Stephanie landed on the ground roughly that she bit her lip with her teeth, causing it to bleed slightly from the inside.

Her hands skidded across the concrete ground, which scratched them, and her glasses fell off, gently clunking against the asphalt, luckily not breaking the lens or the frame.

Stephanie's knees scraped across and scratched her legs along with her chin too.

After crashing into whatever it could be, Stephanie slowly and slightly painfully got up from the asphalt, before reaching over to her glasses and picked them up, placing them onto her nose bridge.

She softly hissed through her teeth slightly when she felt some stinging on the bottom of her chin, reaching over to it with the tips of her fingers and feeling some blood against it when she glanced down at it.

Once Stephanie got up onto her knees, she glanced over at who or what she crashed into.

She saw a British golden-doodle dog right next to her, whining softly with its tail between its legs.

"Oh!" She exclaimed worriedly, turning her body around towards the dog and gently stroked its head. "I'm so sorry!"

She checks for injuries as quickly as she can, before gently kissing the dog between the eyes as an apology.

When she kissed the dog gently between the eyes, she noticed there were bits of black blood stained onto the fur of the animal.

Confused, she reached up in confusion and felt her mouth with her left hand, noticing that she was bleeding from her bottom lip.

Suddenly, the conductor's whistle blew, and it caused Stephanie to perk up, panicking when she noticed the train was about to leave.

Scrambling up to her feet and ignoring the pain from tripping, she ran towards the platform she was supposed to be on, as the dog she went into watched her, as its tail wags slightly.

Once she arrived at the platform after pardoning herself and gently pushing through the crowd, it was already empty, and the train that she was supposed to take had already left the platform.

She skidded to a stop from running off the platform and groaned in frustration, placing a hand against her forehead while gritting her teeth.

Stephanie had missed all the trains!

She took her phone out of her blue jeans pocket quickly and looked up the time to catch the next train, seeing there were no other trains to get to where she wanted to go.

Sighing sadly, she turned her phone off and placed it back into her blue jeans pocket, getting ready to turn around to leave the train station with glum.

Suddenly, a train whistle went through the air, catching her attention before she could turn around to leave.

She glanced around for a moment when a train pulled up along the platform Stephanie was standing on.

The train was an NWR and painted in a bright blue with red lining.

The number '1' is painted on the sides of his tanks in yellow with red-lining, and the lining around his cab windows is yellow.

Stephanie looked around for a moment, before glancing back at the train, groaning softly to herself while gritting her teeth nervously.

She was stuck between going on the train or waiting for another one to come by.

But, she does not want to wait another day to get on another train.

So, daringly, she took the challenge and quickly went over to the train, before hopping into it, hiding where the conductor would not see her.

She harnessed her powers into her sweater, pulling her hood up over her head and hid tightly in the corner, using a camouflaged ability.

Distantly, she thought about where the conductors are, noticing that none had stepped out when it pulled up to the station.

Was it remote-controlled then?

After she had hidden in the corner inside the cab from the conductors, the whistle blew.

That whistle means that the train has to leave the station.

Mentally, Stephanie thought about the driver and the fireman, thinking they were busy with something else.

Suddenly, the train moves, startling Stephanie as she flinched from the sudden movement.

Peeking slightly from underneath her hood that was pulled over her head, Stephanie notices that the driver and the fireman were still not there.

And to make things more surprising, the train was moving on its own!

So, it was remote-controlled?

But where are the machines to pull the levers, watch the gauges, and turn the valves?

Stephanie went back to where she was hiding, wondering to herself in confusion.

Suddenly, she felt a strange feeling inside her that bloomed open as she had never experienced before in many years.

It made Stephanie feel tingly as she shuddered to herself quietly, curling up more into a ball.

The tingly feeling lasted a long time, causing her to shudder a bit more until it stopped.

Stephanie perked a little after the feeling disappeared, allowing her to unfurl from her ball slowly.

She glanced around in curiosity, wondering where she is now.

Bravely, she peeked around the corner, still seeing the driver, and the fireman was still not there.

It still confused her even how many times she looks for the driver and the fireman.

Was this train machine powered instead of remote-controlled?

But, she mentally knows there are not machines inside to control the train.

So, she bravely decided to come out of her hiding in the opening.

Using the knuckles of her fingers, she slowly crawled out from her hiding place, glancing around for the driver and fireman still if she does not see them.

The inside of the train looked amazing to her, admiring the view.

After the coast is clear, she slowly inched herself out, before stopping in the middle of the room, sitting down on her bottom.

It was wondrous as she watched the levers inside move on their own, switching from side to side, up and down, and flicking the same directions.

Truthfully, she had never been inside a steam-powered locomotive before in her life.

Slowly, Stephanie got up on her hands and crawled on her knees to have a good look around.

Luckily, her knees are already healed up from the scratches, but still, they are sore.

Suddenly, the train's whistle blew in the air that made her jolt, stumbling forward when her hands moved up from the ground at a quick pace.

Her hand accidentally touched the brakes when her knee slipped on some water on the ground, which made the train screeched into an unexpected stop.

During that move, she collided into the wall in front of her with a loud thud!

She luckily turned her head before hitting the wall, but her glasses fell off from her face unbroken.

She groaned from the impact on the side of her head and slowly got up from the floor, clutching her head.

Wobbling, she slowly rose from the ground, sitting down while softly hissing to herself, feeling the side of her head.

With her right hand, she picked her glasses up from the ground, placing them on.

Then, she slowly got out of the train by crawling, before landing on the ground on her side.

She stood there for a moment to get the dizziness out of her head before moving.

Once the dizziness went away, she slowly stood up to her feet, hissing through her teeth softly in pain from the impact of metal against her head.

It throbbed slightly, but not too much to her.

"Who's there?" a voice demanded as she flinched from the sound of the tone.

She moved her hand away from the side of her head and quickly glanced around for the person.

But, she could not see who demanded to see her.

"Show yourself!" the voice growled, which sounded irritated.

She noticed the voice was coming from behind her back.

So she turned her body around to where the 'driver' was, bowing slightly as a proper Japanese way of forgiveness.

"I'm sorry I hitched a ride, sir." She apologized, bowing slightly without looking. "I was only late for the train that I was supposed to ride on, but those three gosh darn 'friends' of mine stalled me!"

"Well, that was rude of them." the 'driver' spoke, sounding just as irritated as she is.

"I know, right?!" Stephanie exclaimed out of proper, standing up straight from bowing slightly. "Don't they know a female like me is…"

She drifted off when she glanced back up to where the 'driver' was, noticing that the cabin was still empty.

"Uh…" she paused, looking confused as she glanced around. "Where are you?"

"Where am I?" the voice curiously asked. "Why don't you come to the front?"

Stephanie hesitated for a moment as she glanced in front, looking unsure of it.

But, she wanted to apologize to the 'driver' for riding on their train without their permission.

So, she bravely walked towards the front of the train, preparing herself for the snapping and the angry glares.

But, at the same time, she was amazed at how brave the 'driver' was of riding on the bumper.

Once she walked in the front of the train, once again, she glanced up to see the 'driver' about to speak, when she noticed something off.

Confused, she glanced around for the 'driver,' feeling stupid for falling another trick from them.

"Uh, look up." the same voice spoke, grabbing her attention from looking for them.

So, she glanced up at the driver's command, reading herself with another apology and reason of why she rode on the train.

"Sir, I…" She drifted off when she finally sees who the 'driver' is. "Oh…"

The expression on her face was slightly shocked, but amazed at the same time.

The train was the driver itself!

It has a face with black eye color.

The expression on his face seemed confused, slightly irritated, and curious.

"Is there something wrong?" he asked, as the body tilted slightly to the side as if he cocked his head.

"No," Stephanie spoke, shaking her head side to side. "It's just I have never seen a train talked before."

Mentally, she remembered the time that she had met trains before, except they were robots instead of trains.

The train perked a little when she responded to his question.

"You've never seen one like me?" he repeated in confusion as she nodded her head. "Is this your first time on Sodor then?"

Stephanie perked a little when he said that the place she is in now.

"This is Sodor?" Stephanie curiously asked, sounding more confused than before. "I thought I was heading to a different country than this one if I rode with you. …Geez, all of this is making me more confused…"

She sighed while rubbing the back of her neck with her right hand, as he noticed it from the corner of his eyes.

Being polite, she moved to the front of his eyes so that he could see her.

To Stephanie's mental surprise, his eyes followed her when she moved in front of him.

"Uh, ma'am?" he questioned, as she responded with a "Hmm?"

He paused again, hesitating for a moment, before asking, "What happened to your arm, hair, and eye?"

She glanced down at her right hand, moving the fingers for a moment to herself, before responding, "It's… something painful."

He understood how she felt because she went quiet after answering his question.

So, he decided to avoid the question, evading any more painful memories to make her uncomfortable.

"I never got to introduce myself properly, but I'm Thomas." He greeted, changing the subject.

Stephanie perked a little after he introduced himself to her, glancing up at him from glancing away, smiling a bit.

It was not a happy smile, but a gentle and sad smile.

"My name is Stephanie," she introduced back, bowing slightly to him. "Stephanie Nova Rose Allen."

He chuckled gently as a light blush appeared on his cheeks as she stood back up to her height from bowing to him.

"You don't have to bow to me, Stephanie." he chuckled. "I'm not royal."

"Sorry about that." Stephanie apologized, blushing a light neon pink color to Thomas' interest and curiosity, as she rubbed the back of her neck with her hand. "Sometimes, my Japanese instincts kick in."

"'Japanese instincts?'" he curiously asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I've visited Japan a few times," Stephanie explained. "So, some Japanese cultural rubbed off from them to me."

Thomas paused for a moment when she explained, looking curious.

"How did you get into me in the first place?" Thomas asked, sounding confused.

The blush on her cheeks beamed more, going over her nose bridge from underneath her glasses.

"I, uh, I apparently missed the train because of my 'friends', like what I explained before," Stephanie spoke, explaining what happened as Thomas nodded his head. "I thought that you were going the same way, so, silly me decided to ride with you to get there… I miscalculated and got here instead…"

She sighed as she crossed her arms over her chest, blushing more slightly.

Not noticing, a small drop of something black slid down from her lip.

Thomas noticed that drip and looked confused at first.

"What's that dripping from your lip?" Thomas asked, snapping Stephanie's attention back to him.

Stephanie reached up with the tips of her fingers and felt her lip, looking at it and noticing that she was bleeding.

Deciding not to make him panic, she responded, "It's oil. My darn metal crowns from underneath my teeth are dripping again."

She turned her back around towards Thomas and pulled back her bottom lip slightly, as there were some scars from her biting down either in thought or on accident.

One of the scars was open and was bleeding black blood for a moment, before healing, leaving behind a scar.

Thomas paused for a moment, glancing away from her, before glancing back, asking, "Why not ride with me instead?"

Stephanie glanced back at him from over her shoulder, her blush fading slightly.

"Excuse me?" she asked, looking a bit confused from the ask Thomas gave her.

"You could ride with me until Mr. Conductor or Sir Topham Hatt comes back," Thomas explained as Stephanie turned back around to him. "Then, he'll help you get back to the train station you were in, and you'll catch the train next time!"

Stephanie paused for a moment about it before smiling softly.

This time, it was a natural smile than a sad one!

"Sure, I'll accept that offer." Stephanie smiled, her blush fading. "I don't think I could get back there from here."

Thomas chuckles as Stephanie climbed into his cab before leaning out of the side of his window.

"Comfortable?" Thomas asked, waiting for permission.

"Yep!" she nodded, gently patting his side. "No more hiding and getting my head thunked on the metal after getting startled!"

"Cinders and ashes, that was from you?!" Thomas exclaimed as he rode. "How much did that hurt?! Are you alright, though?"

"Not much, and I'm fine!" Stephanie responded, reaching up with a hand and feeling where she hit her head. "I have a pretty thick skull! And if you could, you could use it as a cannonball!"

She joked at the end of her sentences, which caused Thomas to chuckle.

"You are pretty funny!" Thomas chuckled. "Where did you originally come from?"

"I used to live in America!" Stephanie remarked, grinning from ear to ear. "You are pretty awesome yourself!"

Some puffs of smoke came from Thomas' chimney when Stephanie glanced up as if he was blushing a little.

"Thank you, Stephanie," Thomas thanked while smiling.

Stephanie chuckled softly from Thomas' reaction to her words and gazed out of the window, her arms on the ledge as her chin was on the right metal hand's palm.

She watched as the scenery of the beautiful landscape passed by as Thomas went past, driving towards where Mr. Conductor is waiting for him.

From the back of her head, she was not too sure herself if he is going to be happy when she explains she is stuck here until they find a way to get her back.

1


	2. Trains, Trains, And More Trains!

The trip in Thomas' cab was not too long for Stephanie to continue standing and watching as the scenery passes by her as Thomas continued puffing down the tracks.

Soon, Stephanie noticed that train signals appeared as they went farther and farther into Sodor, perking her attention.

Stations appeared along the side of Thomas, and people were waiting for the train.

Sometimes, people waved to Thomas as he left the station, as he whistled his whistle automatically to them in response to their friendly greeting.

Shortly, Thomas appeared at the biggest station that Stephanie had ever seen before.

Thomas passed through the station by other trains as they were pulling coaches, luckily not noticing Stephanie inside Thomas' cab.

Then, he went into the shunting yard, where there are more trains to Stephanie's surprise that are in the sheds in the distance.

There were two more trains at the side of the sheds, watching Thomas coming to the station.

Out of worry and shame, she hid down behind the window, concerned about what the trains would react to seeing her here and with Thomas.

After Thomas stopped when he arrived at the sheds, he did not notice that Stephanie had hidden out of worry inside his cab.

"Hello, Thomas!" someone greeted from the outside. "What seems to be the problem?"

That voice sounds lively and curious.

"Nothing," Thomas spoke, responding to the question. "Have you seen Mr. Conductor or Sir Topham Hatt yet? I want to show him who came here."

"Neither of them had arrived yet, Thomas." Another voice responded.

"And who is it this time?" Another asked, sounding a bit grumpy. "Is it an animal like what Percy brought?"

"No," Thomas responded calmly, maybe a little impatient as well. "She's human! And she's a friendly person too!"

"A 'she?'" the first voice asked.

"Could it be Lily?" the second one asked.

"No," Thomas sighed. "Lily was not at the station when I went to find her in Shining Time station. Her name is Stephanie instead."

Inside Thomas' cab, Stephanie flinched after Thomas said her name.

"'Stephanie?'" another voice asked, sounding confused. "Who is she?"

"Well," Thomas spoke, as Stephanie mentally panicked to herself. "Let me show you her."

Slowly, Thomas moved forward slightly before pausing.

After he had stopped, something underneath Thomas' body started moving him around slowly.

Stephanie glanced over to the side slightly to see there was a turntable he is on.

When he was turned sideways to reveal Stephanie, Stephanie did not show herself to them because of how ashamed she was feeling.

A quiet moment passed before a different voice asked, "Where is she?"

That voice sounds more mature than the others that she had heard before.

She wanted to see who they were, but her anxiety and shame made her stay put of where she is.

"What?" Thomas asked, sounding confused. "Isn't she inside my cab?"

"No, I don't see her," the second train spoke.

"Thomas, are you playing jokes on us?" the third voice asked, sounding a bit irritated.

Thomas sighed, sounding slightly annoyed than cheerful, and the turntable slowly moved him back in front of the sheds to face his friends.

"No," Thomas answered sternly. "I am being honest."

"Well then, where is she?" The third voice asked.

Thomas waited for the turntable to move around again, as Stephanie kept still behind the walls of his cab.

Once he was turned sideways again, Thomas glanced over to the corner of his eye to his cab.

"Stephanie, you could come out now," Thomas called to her. "You don't have to be worried about them. They are my friends."

"A-Are you sure?" Stephanie asked out of curiosity, perking her head up slightly from ducking.

"I'm positive!" Thomas answered, sounding a bit impatient but friendly at the same time. "They are not going to judge you."

Stephanie paused for a moment, as her right hand gently hooked around the corner of his window sill, hesitating.

"Okay, I'll come out." Stephanie sighed, deciding to get this over with.

Slowly, Stephanie came out from inside Thomas, blushing a little as she stepped onto the ground and closing the door of the cab behind her back.

Once she had gotten out of his cab, she glanced up at the voices.

Immediately, she felt like eyes were staring at her from all around her.

It made her feel nervous, as she clenched her hands to keep herself from acting like a scared mouse to them.

But there were only five trains there which calmed the anxiety and shame down slightly.

The first one was NWR apple green with red and yellow lining.

The number '6' is painted on the sides of his cab in yellow with red-lining, and the lining around his cab windows is yellow.

The second one was NWR red with black lining and gold boiler bands.

His dome is brass, and the number '5' is painted on the sides of his tender in yellow with black lining.

The third one is painted in NWR bright blue with red and yellow lining.

His number '4' is painted on the sides of his tender in yellow with red-lining, and the lining around his cab windows is yellow.

The fourth train is painted in NWR bright blue with red and yellow lining.

The number '2' is painted on the sides of his tender in yellow with red-lining, and the lining around his cab windows is yellow.

The fifth train is painted in NWR apple green with red and yellow lining.

The number '3' is painted on the sides of his tender in yellow with red-lining, and the lining around his cab windows is yellow.

Stephanie stammered a little, before positioning herself, although shaking a little from head to toe nervously.

"Uh, hi." she greeted, pushing back a strand of wire that was blocking her face.

All five trains glanced back up at Thomas from Stephanie.

She took the time to relax her anxiety and shame from going overboard while they are looking at Thomas than her.

"She looks so small!" the first apple green train exclaimed, causing her to blush slightly shyly.

"And different!" the second apple green train also exclaimed, noticing her difference, as she flinched slightly worriedly.

"She looks more like a robot than a human." the blue train huffed indignantly.

Stephanie huffed back and said, puffing her cheeks out a little like a little child compared to him, "Well, I'm a cyborg, not a robot. There's a complete difference between those two identical people, you know! And there is a difference between stubborn and stupid!"

The first blue train looked surprised by the huff Stephanie said to him, as the red train laughed.

Mentally to Stephanie, she cursed at herself for snapping at that first blue train.

"I'm beginning to like her already!" he laughed. "She's got such a fire inside her like any steam engine that could!"

Stephanie's blush reached her ears as she glanced down, biting the bottom of her lip.

Mentally, she cursed at herself for pulling a stunt like that in front of Thomas' friends.

The turntable Thomas is on top of started to move him around, facing backwards of his shed, and backed up into it, right next to the green and the red train.

"Everyone, this is Stephanie," he introduced. "She's from America!"

"An American?" the blue train curiously spoke. "It's been a long time since we've encountered one."

Stephanie perked a little and moved her head back up, her blush disappearing.

"You've never encountered an American before?" she asked, sounding confused.

"Yeah!" the red train spoke. "It also has been 2 years since someone came into our world!"

"Other than Lily, her grandpa, Burnett, Billy, and Mutt." Thomas gently reminded. "But, I think the magic is affecting their memories because they don't remember us."

Stephanie felt curious as she glanced down at the ground, thinking to herself.

"Has anyone else than those people, besides me, have come here?" she curiously asked, glancing back up to them.

All the trains glanced down at the ground after Stephanie asked.

"No, Stephanie." Thomas sighed, shaking his body side to side gently. "No one besides you and those who've come here a lot of times has come back."

Stephanie felt sorry for them as she noticed the slight sad looks on their faces, before deciding to help them.

"Maybe I could help?" she asked, getting their attention.

All the trains glanced up at her.

"You?" the red train asked. "How are you going to help us?"

"And what about returning to where you came from?" Thomas asked. "What would your parents react to see you missing?"

Thomas' smoke was puffing slightly at a quick rate, which means that he is anxious.

"Well, first," Stephanie calmly spoke. "My parents are okay that I am on long adventures as long as I message them to let them know I'm safe, and I'm 20 years old!"

All six trains looked surprised by what Stephanie said before she continued, "And, home doesn't matter to me because I worry about my friends than that! If you all are in trouble with losing magic to keep this place alive, I'm staying here until everything is okay!"

She had determination in her eyes as she crossed her arms as her cheeks were once more puffed out, slightly acting like a little kid towards them.

They paused for a moment, looking surprised at how much determination was inside of Stephanie before the red train laughed.

"Oh! You are pretty amazing for a cyborg American!" he remarked. "I'm James, by the way! The number 5 red train!"

She smiled and said, bowing slightly to him, "Stephanie, Stephanie Nova Rose Allen is my name."

James looked confused from the bowing Stephanie did to him.

"Don't worry." Thomas chuckled. "She got some Japanese cultural inside her from traveling."

"Oh, I know that!" James puffed.

Stephanie chuckled gently, as James blushed, while small puffs of steam came out of his chimney.

She turned to the others, gesturing to them.

"And you all?" she asked.

"Oh, I'm Percy." the green train responded. "The number 6 train!"

Stephanie nodded her head gently and turned to the other train.

"I am Gordon, the number 4 train." the blue train responded grumbly.

Stephanie turned to the other two trains, smiling a friendly smile.

"I'm Edward, the number 2 train." the second blue train responded.

"And I'm Henry, the number 3 train." the second green train spoke.

She nodded her head again before noticing another engine was coming over to where they were from the other side of Henry and Edward.

The engine looked different from the others that she had seen and looked cranky.

"Who are they?" she curiously asked, pointing over to the moving engine.

They glanced over to the side and noticed the moving engine, with a cranky expression on their face.

The engine is painted ochre with tan stripes along his sides.

His buffers and the claw on top of the roof are painted dark brown.

"Oh, him?" Thomas spoke, glancing back to Stephanie. "He's-"

Before he could finish his sentences, the train came over to them, with an angry look on his face and baring his teeth.

"Who are you talkin' about?!" he snapped, causing Stephanie to flinch from the sound of his voice.

"N-Nothing!" Percy panicked, looking scared of him as he backed up more into his shed. "We-We weren't talking about you, Diesel 10!"

Diesel 10, the name of the cranky engine, huffed before glancing down, noticing Stephanie standing in front of him, looking so much smaller than him.

"Well, well, well," he grinned. "We got a little blue freak!"

Two other engines pulled up beside him, chuckling as Stephanie frowned in irritation.

One is painted purple and gray while the other is painted olive and gray.

Both are heavily weathered, and both have their names painted on their sides in white.

"The name is Diesel 10, and these two are Splatter and Dodge!" he greeted.

Stephanie said nothing to him and only crossed her arms over her chest, glaring at them.

"What a small blue freak!" Splatter chuckled.

"Yeah, I wonder where they put the small Chihuahuas!" Dodge giggled.

Diesel 10 laughed along with his friends, as his pincher on top of his head clacked together.

Thomas and his friends were crossed when Diesel 10 and his bully friends made fun of their new friend, Stephanie.

Stephanie clenched her fists and snapped loudly at them, uncrossing her arms from her chest, "If you have a problem with me, write the problem on a piece of paper, fold it, and shove it up your air vents!"

Both Diesel 10, Splatter, and Dodge looked surprised by Stephanie's snap, as there were snickers from the steam trains behind her.

Stephanie mentally giggled to herself, along with the steam trains.

Diesel 10's face turned from slight surprise and amuse, to anger, baring his teeth again.

"Why you little-!" Diesel 10 growled as the pincher on top of his head moved up.

Stephanie paused for a moment, backing up slightly as the pincher missed her from her speed.

Thomas moved forward to block Diesel 10 from attacking her anymore, glaring at him for almost attacking Stephanie.

"Leave her alone, Diesel 10," Thomas growled as Stephanie stuck out her tongue from around Thomas at him like a little kid.

He growled as the pincher moved back on top of his head.

"You are lucky you have friends, Bluie!" he grumbled, before driving away from them, along with Splatter and Dodge. "Next time, I'll get you for good!"

Stephanie rolled her eyes as she walked around Thomas, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Your lips keep moving, you know," Stephanie called them at the top of her lungs, cupping a hand over her mouth. "But all I can hear from you is 'blah, blah, blah!'"

Soft chuckles came from the steam trains, while James was laughing the most, as his whistle was whistling.

"You're pretty creative with your words, Steph!" James observed, chuckling as Stephanie turned to him.

She laughed softly and replied, jabbing a thumb over to where he disappeared after Thomas blocked him from attacking Stephanie, "Well, maybe he should check his nose because I found it in our business."

Soft chuckles came from them again, as James laughed again.

"What's going on here?" a voice asked, sounding confused and slightly stern.

Instantly, the laughing stopped after the voice asked.

Stephanie flinched from the sound of the voice, cringing to herself as her hand that was jabbing her thumb moved down slowly.

"Oh… crud," she croaked, before turning around, seeing Mr. Conductor and Sir Topham Hatt themselves.

Mr. Conductor has short brown hair and fair skin color with steel-blue eyes.

He is wearing a blue uniform with red and yellow hemmings and gold buttons, including pockets on the sides of his coat.

Mr. Conductor is also wearing a white V-neck shirt underneath his coat, including a black handbag over his shoulder.

Topping things off, he also is wearing a hat in the same design of his uniform, except has a gold plate on the front that reads 'The Conductor' and polished black shoes.

Sir Topham Hatt is a short, chubby gentleman.

He wears gray trousers, a white shirt, a black tie, a cream waistcoat, a black tailcoat, and a black top hat.

He has brown eyes and fair skin color.

Stephanie blushed embarrassedly and turned around to him quickly, panicking.

"Sorry about that, Sirs." she excused herself, acting small in front of them. "I-I was just being a little cocky with the diesel engines, and th-they were-"

"I know." Sir Topham Hatt gently spoke, interrupting her from her mumble. "Though it was creative to use your words, sometimes you have to be careful with them because they are stronger than you know it."

Stephanie nodded her head in agreement, smiling gently.

"Now," Mr. Controller spoke, gesturing to her with his hand. "Who are you?"

"Oh," she repositioned herself from being small in front of him, bowing slightly to him. "Stephanie, Stephanie Nova Rose Allen is my name."

They both nodded their heads, and Stephanie moved back up, chuckling sheepishly.

"Is there a reason why you are here?" Sir Topham Hatt asked, sounding confused.

"I, uh, I," Stephanie stammered, blushing more in a neon pink color.

"What a strange blush…" James mumbled softly in the background to his friends.

They watched the three talked to each other, as Thomas came back into the shed he was inside for a moment.

"Yes, do they normally blush a red color?" Gordon curiously questioned. "No one blushed a neon pink before."

A pause came from the trains as they glanced at each other.

Stephanie chuckled and asked, "Do you mind if I stay here? I want to help. I'll explain why I'm here if there is any time that you are open."

Mr. Conductor and Sir Topham Hatt looked confused from the permission of help.

"Why?" they curiously asked.

"Because the magic of this place is fading, right?" she asked, cocking her head to the side gently. "I'll try my best to help!"

Mr. Conductor and Sir Topham Hatt paused for a moment from Stephanie's ask, glancing at each other uneasily as she patiently waited for orders.

"Please, sirs," Thomas spoke behind her. "She is willing to help us."

Mr. Conductor and Sir Topham Hatt sighed simultaneously, and Sir Topham Hatt said, "Alright, but we have to find out what will make the magic tomorrow, okay?"

Stephanie nodded her head and bowed again to him, "I promise you that we'll do our best!"

Thomas blew his whistle as Stephanie turned back around to him, grinning.

"And, we'll restore magic back to the land!" Stephanie smirked, as Thomas blew his whistle again.

James, Gordon, Henry, Edward, and Percy looked unsure about it, mostly from Gordon himself.

"But, I was going to show you all two new trains that came here from the Great Western Railway." Sir Topham Hatt spoke, perking Thomas a little.

"Really?" Thomas asked, sounding excited. "Who are they?"

Sir Topham Hatt chuckled and made a mention to follow him, turning his back towards them while Mr. Controller followed behind him.

Stephanie glanced over at Thomas as he moved forward to Stephanie's side before stopping for her to climb onto him.

She climbed into him and peered out of the window, as Thomas followed Sir Topham Hatt and Mr. Conductor without speeding up.

They both reached a small car on the tracks, painted two-tone red with a black frame and wheels.

The small car has brass hinges, a brass horn, silver headlights, and a beige boot cover.

He has a brass nameplate on either side with the name 'Winston.'

They both climbed into him as Sir Topham Hatt took the wheel and started driving, although having troubles with it.

Luckily, Mr. Conductor had his hand on top of his hat from falling off his head.

When they reached a different place than the train yard, there were two new trains inside.

The first train is a GWR 4900 Class 4-6-0 tender engine, painted in crimson red with golden highlights and lining while having blue eyes than black eyes like Thomas and the rest.

The second one is a prototype mainline gas turbine 4-6-0 locomotive and painted in a chocolate brown color scheme.

Thomas was excited to meet the two trains, as Sir Topham Hatt stopped, although he fumbled a bit.

But before he could greet them, the gas turbine grumbling grumpily.

"Great," he grumbled. "I'm surrounded by steamies!"

Stephanie poked her head out more from inside Thomas' cabin and said, snapping slightly at him, "Excuse you! We were just greeting you!"

He looked surprised to see Stephanie from inside Thomas, as well as the red train.

"Uh, heh," Thomas embarrassedly chuckled, as small puffs of steam came out of his chimney while blushing. "Excuse my friend. She's a little feisty for her own size."

"I heard that, Thomas!" Stephanie called, causing the red train and the gas turbine to laugh slightly.

"Oh, it's fine, Thomas." the red train chuckled. "I'm Braedey, and the grumpy diesel next to me is Croghan."

Croghan, the name of the gas turbine, huffed in response after he was introduced.

"Pleased to meet you two," Thomas beamed, his cheeks stopped blushing, and the puffs of smoke ceased. "As you know, I'm Thomas, and the rider inside is my friend, Stephanie."

She waved her hand through the window to the trains, as if she is saying hello.

Braedey chuckled from Stephanie, as Croghan growled slightly.

"Anyways," Thomas spoke, moving backwards. "It was nice to meet you two, but I'd better make myself useful to help around."

"Uh, Thomas?" Braedey spoke, sounding a bit concerned about Stephanie inside. "What about her?"

Stephanie once again poked her head out from inside Thomas' window, grinning at them from ear to ear with her lips.

"Don't worry about me!" Stephanie called to the new engines. "I'll make myself useful by helping around! Although we'll talk to you both later!"

Both trains glanced at each other for a moment, before Croghan grumbled and backed up, getting to work.

Meanwhile, Diesel 10, Splatter and Dodge watched Thomas drove past them with Stephanie inside, watching the scenery instead of noticing them.

Diesel 10 looked angry as he was baring his teeth.

"That little blue freak!" he growled, as steam came out from around his body.

"She thinks she could restore the magic back to the world by finding out what makes it?!" He growled at the end of his sentence.

"Yeah, why not destroying what makes it first?" Splatter asked.

"Yeah, like what you almost did to Lady?" Dodge nodded.

"No, you nitwits!" Diesel 10 snapped at them. "We need to find the source that is beside Lady! Something that channels through her!"

Splatter and Dodge went quiet after Diesel 10 snapped at them, glancing away.

"But, first, we need to get rid of that little blue freak!" Diesel 10 snapped, the pincher on top of his head snapped quietly in agreement. "Then we find what creates that magic that channels through Lady, and destroy it!"

He laughed evilly as the pincher on top of his head snapped along with him.

Splatter and Dodge also laughed along with him.

Whatever they were doing, they are determined to attack her.

1


	3. The Legend

The next day, Stephanie woke up at the right time to get up.

Groggily, she glanced over at the clock as it blared the alarm, reading, "4:30."

Sighing, she reached over to the clock with her arm and clicked the alarm off with her finger.

After turning off the alarm, she got up from the bed, pushing the blankets away from her skinny body and moving her legs over the edge, stretching for a moment while she is wearing some pajamas.

Her pajamas are her long-sleeved, light blue shirt and black tights without socks on and revealing her metal feet.

After stretching for a moment, she stood up from the bed she was laying in and dressed in her usual clothing, without the black tights on that she placed back in her sweater pocket.

Then, she picked up her silver necklace with the golden heart-shaped pendant from the table next to her along with her glasses, placing them on.

After putting her glasses and necklace on, she entered the kitchen and made some non-caffeinated coffee for herself.

She poured the coffee in her sky-blue thermos, before adding in some half-and-half inside, with two scoops of sugar.

Stephanie screwed the lid on the thermos on tightly, picking it up from the table and shook it, mixing the contents inside thoroughly without accidentally hitting herself.

Once she had mixed the contents inside well enough, she placed the thermos into the pocket of her sweater, which oddly disappeared inside without making any form of it against the fabric.

Then, she put her socks on and tied her shoes, before walking out of the door of the spare room Sir Topham Hatt, and Mr. Conductor lent her for the moment.

When she stepped outside, Stephanie locked the door behind her quietly and walked off, heading towards the train sheds to wake Thomas up for the day.

She reached to Thomas' door and opened the door slightly, peeking her head inside to have a look around.

It was dark inside, but she could see Thomas clearly inside since the sun was halfway rising on the horizon and shining gently through the windows.

Thomas was peacefully sleeping there in his spot, snoring quietly to himself.

Mentally to herself, she did not want to wake Thomas up from his sleep because of how cute he was, but since it was almost time to wake up, she knows that this moment could not last.

She stepped inside quietly and closed the door behind her back, soundlessly so that she would not wake him up on accident.

She stepped up close to him and walked over to the side of him, getting ready to climb onto him.

But, she instead placed her hand on the side of his body, tapping him gently.

"Thomas." she softly spoke, pausing for a moment from her gentle patting.

A soft moan came from Thomas as he gradually started to wake up as Stephanie tenderly smiled.

"Thoomaaass~" Stephanie smoothing spoke, acting as a mother figure to him. "Time to get up."

He groggily groaned lightly, and Stephanie moved her hand from his side, waiting for him to wake up patiently.

"Five more minutes…" he groaned, blinking his eyes.

Stephanie softly smiled and softly replied, not too loud for the rest of the trains to wake up from the sound of her voice, "I already gave you 5 minutes. Come on, we could start on the routine without having to wait."

Thomas sighed and nodded, allowing Stephanie to climb inside as he blinked a few times to get the sleepiness out.

After Stephanie had got inside his cab and gently closed the door behind her back.

She walked over to the window, as the early risers of the workmen opened the doors fully for him to go through.

Thomas rode out of his shed while yawning sleepily.

Stephanie yawned along with her, revealing her small sharp canines for a moment, before closing her mouth.

She watched as Sir Topham Hatt came out of his room, dressed in his usual clothes and yawning slightly.

"Good morning, Sir!" Stephanie greeted out from the window.

He looked a little startled when Stephanie greeted him out from the window, almost dropping the clipboard in his hand that he was carrying.

But relaxed when he noticed it was just Stephanie inside of Thomas' cab.

Stephanie gently smiled and glanced back forward.

"How did you sleep, Thomas?" she curiously asked.

"I slept pretty well," Thomas responded. "What about you, Stephanie?"

Stephanie paused for a moment, thinking to herself about her sleeping while humming slightly.

"Hmmm, I think I slept good," Stephanie responded, thinking to herself. "But, at the same time, I think I moved around too much."

"You move in your sleep?" Thomas asked, sounding confused.

"Way too much." Stephanie sighed, remembering times when she either wakes up on the other side of the bed or halfway off it.

Thomas chuckled as Stephanie took out her coffee filled thermos from her sweater pocket, opening it to drink out of it.

Thomas reached the yard and noticed that Braedey was working too, as Croghan was watching in the distance.

"Hello, Braedey!" she happily called, waving to him.

"Good morning, Stephanie!" he greeted. "You seem to be in a cheery mood!"

She excitedly nodded her head and called to him while cupping a hand over her mouth, "You have a nice day, Braedey!"

Braedey whistled his whistle in response to her words, as Croghan groaned, rolling his eyes and glancing away from them.

Stephanie smiled brightly while moving out of the cab window and drank out of her thermos while riding on Thomas.

As soon as they arrived at the train station to receive some orders from Sir Topham Hatt, he seemed very stressed.

Stephanie noticed the expression on his face and screwed the lid back on her thermos, putting it into her pocket again.

She stepped off of Thomas' cab after he had stopped at the platform, closing the door behind her back.

"What seems to be the problem, Sir?" Thomas asked, sounding confused.

Sir Topham Hatt turned around towards them after Thomas asked a question and sighed heavily.

"We have a crisis!" he exclaimed worriedly. "The conductors said their gold dust is low, and the railways are acting strange!"

Stephanie looked curious as she cocked her head to the side slightly.

"What do you mean by that?" she asked, walking up to him.

"Well, earlier in the day," Sir Topham Hatt spoke, looking down at his clipboard in his hand. "Gordon was going to drive the passengers to their stations when he noticed the tracks led him back to the same station where he started. There was even a mix-up as well with the crates at the docks too!"

Stephanie paused for a moment, thinking to herself.

"That's just terrible!" Thomas sighed. "Sooner or later, we'll never fix things right, and everything will go out of business!"

"No," Stephanie spoke, turning around to Thomas. "If we work together, we might find the source of what creates magic and fix what is happening to the rails. Now," she turned back to Sir Topham Hatt. "Do you know where the library is?"

Sir Topham Hatt looked a little confused, but said, "Yes, I do. It's almost close to Tidmouth in Town Square. But, the tracks still might make you two go the wrong way like the other trains or lost!"

Stephanie was halfway climbing Thomas when she stopped, glancing over at him.

"Don't worry, Sir," Stephanie assured him, before reaching into her pocket and pulled out her cellphone to show him. "If we are in trouble, I'll call you to let you know."

Sir Topham Hatt hesitated after Stephanie assured him before climbing into Thomas's cab after stopping halfway through it and rode off to the library in Tidmouth.

"Are you sure about this?" Thomas asked, glancing over to her as they left the sheds.

"I'm sure!" Stephanie assured, patting his side gently. "Besides, what could go wrong?"

* * *

But little to them, something was going wrong.

With Gordon and James, Gordon looked distressed as he rode along with James, who looked confused about why Gordon is stressed.

"I-I thought I had come here before!" Gordon panicked. "Oh, dear!"

"Quit being a worry train, Gordon!" James chuckled. "Maybe you are a little tired."

"I-I'm not even tired, James!" Gordon protested. "I had a good sleep last night!"

James rolled his eyes and moved forward, heading towards the train yard.

But when he turned the corner, he swore he saw that tree before.

Confused, he did the same thing again, turning the same corner and reaching to that same tree.

James is now startled when he encountered that same tree again the third time in a row.

He stopped in his tracks before going to the same tree the fourth time and glanced around.

Everything looked the same as he was passing!

"G-Gordon was right!" James panicked. "Everything is getting out of order!"

He glanced down at the tracks and noticed something was off.

There were specks of gold dust along the rails, but it sizzled for a moment, before disappearing.

"Oh, no." James winced, before continuing, racing to find the others to tell what he saw.

* * *

Meanwhile, with Stephanie and Thomas, they reached the library in Tidmouth Town Square, and to their surprise, they did not get lost on the way.

Stephanie stepped off of Thomas once he had pulled up along the side of the library.

"Alright, Thomas," Stephanie spoke, turning to him before walking away. "Stay here and wait for me after I find some clues that will lead to the answer to the magic, okay?"

Thomas nodded, and Stephanie walked away, entering the library.

When she entered, she looked mostly surprised at how empty it was without any librarians but how many bookshelves there were.

'If Beck was here,' Stephanie quietly smiled to herself. 'She would be in heaven and would stay here for a long time reading every single book.'

It was a mess inside the library too.

There were books scattered all over the place and in large piles.

They looked like they were about to tumble if a thicker book was placed on top.

She sighed through her mouth as she glanced around, realizing it would take a long time to look for a source to help create the magic back.

But, she had a trick up her sleeve to shorten the time up.

She unzipped her sweater off her body and placed it onto a hook right beside the door, like how a gentleman would do it to his hat when entering a house.

Then, she walked into the middle of the library, before standing straight and closing her eyes.

Her long hair and wires started moving up from magic, waving around as if it was in the water.

Then, her wire hair started to change into her natural hair color like her right-hand side.

She lifted her hands up, and a light blue aura appeared around it, as books started to come off the shelves gently, which is also surrounded by the same aura around Stephanie's hands.

Stephanie opened her eyes, and her left eye was glowing a light blue color, as she glanced at the book she first pulled down with her magic and moved in front of her while floating in mid-air, looking at the cover, before flipping through it with her hand.

While Stephanie was looking through the pages of the book, Stephanie's hair started moving on their own.

Her long hair started to sort through the mess of books piled on the front of the shelves while Stephanie stayed perfectly still in the middle, flipping through the pages of the book.

Each strand of hair picked up each book from the piles of books and placed them in order on the shelf.

Not only sorting through the piles of novels but even sorting through each book on the shelf too.

Going from adventure to action, and from humor to horror.

Each time Stephanie's hair strands reached over to a book that is further away from where she is standing, her hair got longer and longer, before going to an exact length to put the book away.

After flipping through the hovering book for a minute, Stephanie closed the book, thinking to herself.

A strand of hair came over to the hovering book, gently wrapped around it, and placed it back on the shelf where it belongs.

She repeated the same process a few times with a few other books before sighing, pushing the novel that she was reading through quickly back on the same spot.

Then, she glanced up at the top shelves, wondering to herself for a moment.

Her hair reached up at the tallest top of the shelf and moved across for a moment, before picking out a random book, wrapping around it gently.

The novel she randomly picked out from the shelf floated down and floated over to where she is, hovering in front of her.

Stephanie looked at the book as it opened, revealing stories about legends.

It perked Stephanie's curiosity as her hair finished up on sorting through the books.

After waiting for a moment, the last novel was finally placed onto the shelf, cleaning up the library from being in a mess.

Stephanie took the book from hovering in the air into her hands, sighing to herself that she found the right one.

Her hair stopped moving around and flopped down from being floating up, and shrank to her average length.

Stephanie flipped through the pages of the book with her hand, looking at each title of the books.

When she reached the end of the book, he stopped at a chapter that reads, "Legend of the Golden Mountain."

Stephanie scanned through the story for a moment before perking, smiling to herself.

"Found it." Stephanie smiled to herself.

Her left eye stopped glowing after she had blinked, and her hair on the left-hand side of her hair turned back to wires.

She checked the book out on the counter, put her sweater back on her body, and went back outside to Thomas.

He was waiting for her semi-patiently while watching some bees collecting pollen from the flowers along with some nectar.

"Thomas!" Stephanie called, running over to him as Thomas glanced back up at her. "I found what could be the source to get the magic back!"

Thomas perked when Stephanie entered inside his cab hastily.

"What is it?" Thomas asked while driving towards Sir Topham Hatt is.

"Well, prepare yourself for a story!" Stephanie smiled before clearing her throat. "It's called 'Legend of the Golden Mountain.'"

Thomas felt curious about it and listened to the story while driving.

"'Many years ago, a young and brave train rode on the earth, traveling everywhere he wants and doing the best he could to make himself useful to others.'" Stephanie read out loud to Thomas. "'But, it did not last for long.'"

Thomas looked confused as he focused on the tracks and listening to Stephanie.

"'Soon, everything started to crumble out of place.'" Stephanie continued. "'The tracks were not leading towards where he wants to go, the gold dust of his conductor friend uses did not work, and everything was getting out of hand.'"

Thomas shuddered slightly to himself, imagining the damage it would do now.

"'People were getting distressed about the changing, and even his friend's trains were confused.'" Stephanie read on. "'So, he did the bravest thing ever; going to the tallest mountain there is, to find where magic is first created.'"

Thomas perked a little, feeling curious.

"'Everyone was not sure he could do it, but he was determined to do it.'" Stephanie smiled. "'On the first day, he rode to find the mountain, despite being lost.'"

Thomas turned to the right, noticing there was no one else as he rode down the tracks.

"'They went through 5 elements before going to the mountain.'" Stephanie continued reading. "'Water, fire, air, metal and earth.'"

Thomas glanced over at the elements surrounding him, seeing the trees growing around him, the wind blowing around him as he keeps puffing back towards Tidmouth sheds, the small campfires from campers, the water stream he once passed through a forest and hearing wind chimes as they beautifully clinked together.

"'As soon as he reached the mountain, it was taller than the other mountains he had ever seen and looked dangerous.'" Stephanie continued reading on. "'But, he was fearless enough to ride it.'"

Thomas smiled mentally to himself as he glanced around for any trains left.

But, he felt confused and scared no one else was around.

"'So, he rode at the peak of the mountain, where he could see the world wherever he turns.'" Stephanie continued, smiling gently. "'But something followed after him, and it was evil.'"

Thomas guessed it could be an evil train like how he knows it would be.

"'It was the darkness!'" Stephanie exclaimed, startling Thomas slightly as he flinched. "'The darkness wanted the magic for itself, so, the train and the conductor did the bravest thing ever!'"

Thomas gasped softly as his wheels shuddered slightly.

"'The conductor grabbed handfuls of coal the mountain had and threw it into the train's fire, causing it to create gold dust!'" Stephanie read as Thomas looked surprised. "'The gold dust slowly drove the darkness away into a deep hole, where it was sealed away forever to cause no more trouble!'"

Thomas sighed in relief, relieved that they locked the creature away.

"'But there came a price for the two brave heroes.'" Stephanie softly spoke as Thomas looked slightly surprised. "'They disappeared from the face of the earth and left the gold dust behind, where it was discovered and now used for great things.'"

Thomas glanced away for a moment to think to himself before glancing back at Stephanie.

"'And the darkness will come again, to try to get the magic back, to destroy the world!'" Stephanie spoke, before closing the book, with her fingers inside where the story is. "'The end.'"

Stephanie placed the bookmark inside the book at the end of the story of where her finger was.

She repeated the same time at the beginning of the story, except a different color of the bookmark.

"That seems identical to Lady," Thomas spoke, sounding curious after being quiet for a little.

"It does?" Stephanie curiously spoke, after placing the book in her sweater pocket, which disappeared inside.

"Yes, let me take you to her instead." Thomas turned the other way and went towards the train yard while Stephanie was watching. "Although how on earth did you find that book? It must've taken you a few minutes!"

He passed some of the trucks as Stephanie glanced around, noticing some worried passengers and confused expressions on their faces.

"From what I've heard from one of the conductors," Thomas exclaimed. "It takes an hour to find a single book from inside that library!"

Stephanie stammered a few times, mentally panicking to herself.

She does not want anyone else, especially automobiles that can talk and have personalities to know about her powers just yet.

"Uh, lucky guess?" she shrugged nervously.

Thomas paused in thought, feeling a little suspicious about Stephanie, but shrugged it off his shoulders, and arrived at the train yard before noticing the confused, and distressed looks on his friend's faces.

"What's wrong?" Stephanie asked, peering out the window.

"I'll tell you what's wrong!" Gordon spoke, sounding more distressed than the others. "The railroads were not going the right way we want to and kept going back the way we came from!"

Stephanie perked a little when he heard that.

"And the worst part is that gold dust is on a very critical condition." Sir Topham Hatt spoke, walking over to the trains. "Lady is trying her best to help us, but there is no more coming from her."

Stephanie paused for a moment to herself before stepping out of Thomas.

"Sir," She spoke, taking the book out of her sweater pocket, which surprised everyone at how her sweater pocket could be deep enough to conceal a large book. "A similar legend in her is identical to Lady."

"What legend?" James asked, sounding curious.

"The Legend of the Golden Mountain." Stephanie smiled before opening the book to the beginning of the story, looking at the picture of the mountain. "It's where gold dust was first created to ward off the darkness. But, I think it could restore the magic too!"

Then, a whistle blew from behind Stephanie's back, as she turned around, seeing another train.

The train is painted red-purple with gold headlamps on her front footplate, tail lamp, gold buffers, smokebox, funnel top, dome, whistle, side rods, lining, and her name on each side in gold.

She is also painted a very dark purple on her cab roof, lower-funnel section, and her footplate.

"Lady!" Thomas remarked, beaming gently.

"Thomas," She spoke, as Thomas' cheeks blushed, while small puffs of clouds came out of his chimney. "I am glad to hear you two find about the legend of the Golden Mountain, but I must warn your new friend about it. Not all engines could be your friend."

Stephanie paused for a moment before nodding her head, understanding what she meant.

"Yes," Stephanie bowed slightly towards her. "We will be careful, malady."

Lady blushed a little as she glanced away, before moving backwards for them to get out of the train yard.

Stephanie closed the book and handed it over to Sir Topham Hatt.

"We will be back sooner or later, sir." Stephanie smiled.

"Oh, before you go," Sir Topham Hatt handed the book over to one of the train conductors and reached into his pocket, pulling out a silver whistle. "This is for you. It might come in handy."

Stephanie smiled and took the whistle from Sir Topham Hatt and placed it around her neck, placing it underneath her sweater.

"I will, sir." She knelt down to his height slightly and hugged him by wrapping her arms around him.

He appeared startled for a moment, before chuckling and hugged her back.

"Just be safe with Thomas." He spoke, before releasing.

Stephanie nodded her head and headed back to Thomas, climbing into his cab and popped out from the window.

Thomas backed up, and Stephanie waved her hand towards them through the window.

"Bye!" she waved to everyone before leaving.

"Bye!" All of them called back, whistling their whistles.

"Be safe, Thomas!" Percy and Henry warned at the same time.

"I will!" Thomas called back, before vanishing in the distance.

But little did they know, Diesel 10, Splatter, and Dodge heard everything that they were talking about, as they were hiding behind the sheds without anyone noticing.

"Did you hear that?" Diesel 10 smirked. "They talked about the darkness!"

"Yeah, we heard!" Splatter nodded.

"What about you going to do about it, boss?" Dodge asked.

"We are going to free that darkness!" Diesel 10 smiled evilly. "And then, we'll be unstoppable together!"

He chuckled as he backed up, heading towards a different direction to find the darkness before Thomas and Stephanie finds the magic before them.


	4. On Our Way

After a while of riding on the rails, Stephanie felt a little bored from looking out the window, so she moved her head back inside.

Her face feels a little cold from the wind, and her hair was a bit tangled, but she had a good time riding with Thomas.

"Is there something wrong?" Thomas asked, sounding curious.

"No, nothing wrong," Stephanie responded, sitting down on the ground of the room. "Just feeling a little bored."

"'Bored?'" Thomas repeated in confusion, glancing over at her from the corner of his eye.

Stephanie peered more out of the window, noticing the confusion and slight irritation tone in his voice.

"You're already bored?!" Thomas slightly grumbled. "We've left the station hours ago!"

"Not that bored, Thomas!" Stephanie gently protested without snapping at him. "I'm willing to do the adventure I wanted, but standing here inside you with nothing to do is boring!"

"Oh!" Thomas recognized, before chuckling. "Why didn't you say so earlier?"

Stephanie mentally shrugged to herself and placed a hand underneath her chin while her shoulder supported the weight of her head.

"Sometimes, I just don't say things." Stephanie sighed. "It's a little bad habit of mine."

Thomas thought to himself for a moment, before asking, "Hey, Stephanie? What nicknames did people call you back at home?"

Stephanie thought to herself for a moment as she stood up to her height.

"Let me think about that, Thomas," Stephanie responded softly.

She reached into her sweater pocket and pulled out a hairbrush and brushed out her hair and wires the best she could.

After brushing her hair and wires out from being in tangles, Stephanie placed her hairbrush back into her sweater pocket and put her hair up into a low ponytail with her fingers.

After putting her long hair and wires up, she peered back out the window.

"Why are you curious about nicknames, Thomas?" Stephanie asked.

"Well, earlier I heard Diesel calling you 'Bluie,' and I was confused," Thomas innocently responded. "Why did he call you that?"

"Because of my blue outfit, Thomas!" Stephanie chuckled. "Blue is my favorite color!"

Thomas chuckled along with her, and said, "Well, my favorite color is blue too! I used to be green when I first came to Sodor!"

Stephanie beamed and said, "That's cool!"

Thomas' cheeks blushed slightly from the remark Stephanie made about his favorite color.

"Oh, nicknames," Stephanie remembered. "There's Rose, Nova, Steph, Stephanie, Kiddo from an old friend of mine, Blue Smurf from a few old friends of mine from high school, Bluie from Diesel, Commander Sweet Tooth from some military friends, and… too many other nicknames that I got."

She laughed softly at the end of her sentences.

"'Commander?'" Thomas questioned, before gasping. "You were an army commander?!"

"Uh…" Stephanie drifted off, thinking to herself. "I honestly don't know. The guys back there just picked the random person there is in the room, and it was me."

Thomas seemed more confused about Stephanie's answers.

"Changing the subject," Stephanie spoke, shaking her head slightly. "What nicknames did your friends come up with to call you?"

"Well," Thomas began. "Little Thomas from Gordon, Useless Little Big, and Mite from Cranky."

Thomas steamed a little from that nickname someone named Cranky gave him.

Stephanie understood his slight annoyance about that and continued hearing the nicknames he was given with.

"Useless Blue Puffball from George, Puffball from Diesel, Shrimp from Vinnie," Thomas continued, sounding more annoyed, before calming down. "And, Little Tank Engine from Frankie."

Stephanie paused for a moment after he had sighed, before responding, "I actually only like you being called just Thomas."

Thomas perked a little from Stephanie's words, glancing over at her from the corner of his eye.

"Really?" he questioned curiously.

Stephanie nodded her head and gently patted Thomas' side.

"Yeah, I am used to being called names too," A sigh came from Stephanie as she started to name off the names she was being called.

"Stupid, Black Sheep, Irritating Bug," Thomas looked surprised by the names she listed off, as the tone of her voice sounded slightly angry, but with some hurt in it too. "Cyborg Menace, and… Freak…"

She sounded distant when she listed off the last word, before shaking her head slightly.

"But sticks and stones break my bones, but words can never hurt me!" Stephanie painfully smiled, jabbing a thumb at herself.

At first, Thomas noticed the subtly hurt tone in her voice, but did not want to ruin this moment for her.

So, changing the subject for her to make her feel comfortable, Thomas asked, "What type of adventures you've been on?"

Stephanie chuckled and said, going with the subject change, "A lot! I've been out in the waters, underground, up in the air, everywhere!"

Thomas looked surprised by what Stephanie said before smiling.

"I've been in some places too," Thomas smiled. "I've been in the cities of Sodor, the forests, everywhere! At one point, I was outside Sodor too!"

"Really?" Stephanie perked. "You've been outside Sodor once?"

Thomas nodded his head.

"Yes, the outside world seems amazing, but I didn't stay there long enough." Thomas sighed at the end.

Stephanie paused for a moment, before asking, "Hey, maybe some other time after we fixed the magic, we could go outside!"

Thomas perked at the sound of this.

"Really?" Thomas beamed. "You promise?"

Stephanie nodded her head and patted his side once more.

"I promise!" Stephanie nodded.

Throughout the day, the two talked about their lives in their homes, as Stephanie told him about her life back in America.

But Thomas could distantly noticed that she looked homesick from talking about where she used to live in.

Soon, they reached into a forest, and Stephanie noticed something from the side of the railroad.

"Thomas," Stephanie spoke, glancing ahead. "Stop, I saw something on the side of the road!"

Thomas immediately stopped, looking a little confused as Stephanie jumped out, before walking towards what she saw.

"What's wrong?" Thomas asked, sounding worried and confused.

Stephanie did not respond to Thomas' question, and he started to worry more.

Then, Stephanie walked back over to him while cradling something in her arms.

"What is in your arms?" Thomas asked, sounding confused.

Stephanie glanced up at Thomas and lightly smiled.

"It's a kitten." She softly spoke, showing Thomas the kitten she found.

Thomas looked confused about what Stephanie said until she stepped closer to Thomas to let him see what she found.

In her arms was a small black and white kitten.

The kitten also has white stripes decorating on the tail, the head, and the forelegs with a white muzzle.

It also had a white underbelly and white toes, a pink nose.

The kitten did not have any collar on and looked like to be asleep.

"Is the kitten okay?" Thomas softly asked.

"Yes, the kitten is okay." Stephanie nodded. "She's just exhausted from running all day."

Stephanie gently scratched the top of the kitten's head, before climbing into Thomas and sat down.

After she had climbed inside of Thomas, he continued going down the rails.

Inside, Stephanie was checking if the kitten was okay, gently brushing back the fur to check for injuries.

She checks the small kitten in her arms from top to bottom.

A moment passed, and Stephanie finished checking the kitten for any injuries, fleas, or anything else.

The kitten was in good condition.

She placed the kitten in her right arm and sighed, leaning back against the wall behind her back.

"Stephanie," Thomas spoke, catching her attention. "Is the kitten alright?"

"Yes, Thomas," Stephanie spoke. "The kitten is perfectly okay."

A relieved sigh came from Thomas as they turned around the corner.

Stephanie stood back up to her feet and carefully peered out the window, without holding the kitten out too much.

"Did you get a map to Golden Mountain?" Thomas asked.

Stephanie's face turns from confusion to a sheepish expression as she rubbed the back of her neck with her other hand, while the one that was holding the kitten was close to her chest.

"Uh, I didn't get a… map of the mountain." Stephanie sheepishly spoke as she blushed a light neon pink color.

Thomas looked surprised from that before groaning as his speed slowed down a little.

"And I forgot to stock up some more water and coal!" Thomas groaned.

Stephanie thought to herself for a moment before perking.

"Don't worry!" she beamed, trying to cheer up a slightly annoyed Thomas. "I forgot to get some food and water for myself! So, we're both even!"

"Why?" Thomas asked, perking a little.

"Like you," Stephanie spoke while using her magic to create an unlimited coal bin and water tank for Thomas behind his back and without noticing. "You need coal and water to keep moving forward. We, humans, need water and food to keep going too. Without it, we might starve, like you without any coal or water."

Thomas looked guilty as he looked down at the ground, feeling sorry for Stephanie.

"But there is something that I want to tell you," Stephanie spoke, sheepishly blushing a light neon pink color.

"What is it?" Thomas curiously asked, slowing down a little.

"Uh, wait until dark comes," Stephanie spoke, as he sped up a little. "That could help us relax a bit."

Thomas nodded his head and continued riding down the railroad, while Stephanie was riding inside of Thomas, cradling the little kitten in her arms.

"Stephanie," Thomas spoke after a minute of silence. "What are you going to name the kitten?"

Stephanie paused for a moment, staring at the sleeping kitten before answering Thomas' question, "Mittens. I'm going to name the kitten, Mittens!"

Thomas smiled gently from the name, remembering the little white toes he saw before.

"I like that name!" Thomas beamed. "Mittens is a fantastic name!"

Stephanie nodded her head and gently patted the kitten's head, scratching between the ears.

Mentally, Stephanie thought she had heard the sleeping kitten purr from the feeling of her ears being scratched gently.

Suddenly, a steam train whistle blew in the distance, catching both Thomas' and Stephanie's attention as she stopped scratching the kitten's ears.

"Did you hear that?" Thomas asked, sounding confused and alerted.

Stephanie only replied with a nod of her head, glancing around.

The steam train whistle continued getting closer until others followed after the steam train whistle.

"That sounds like…" Thomas spoke, before drifting off, remembering those whistles as he stopped. "My friends! What are they doing following me?"

"Maybe to tell you that you had forgotten something?" Stephanie guessed, shrugging her shoulders slightly.

"It could be." Thomas nodded.

He glanced over to the side and watched as the others came next to him.

From Henry to Gordon and from Percy to James.

But, in the far back, there was Braedey, and behind him, were three more new trains.

The first train is painted emerald green with yellow lining and brass fittings.

She has chocolate-colored running-boards, and her buffers were silver.

The second train is painted orange with yellow lining.

She has yellow, green, and red patterns painted along with her tanks, dome, and cylinders, and her footplate is painted red.

Her name 'Nia,' and the numbers '18' are painted on the sides of her tanks, and cab respectively, in yellow.

The third train is painted yellow and navy with white lining.

Her wheel rims are painted white, her front end is painted red, and she has red and orange stripes painted along her sides.

She also carries two blue nameplates with white writing in the name of 'Rebecca' and the letters NWR written on her tender.

"What are you all doing here?" Thomas asked as Stephanie looked confused, holding Mittens close to her body as she peeked out of the window on the left-hand side. "Don't you all know how dangerous this adventure is?"

"So?" James responded cockily. "You've always been on adventures without us and has always been the hero! Now it's our turn to have the chance!"

Stephanie rolled her eyes and chuckled as Thomas glanced away from them.

"🎵I think he's right~,🎵" Stephanie sang teasingly, as Thomas groaned, rolling his eyes.

"Oh!" the third train exclaimed, noticing Stephanie. "I didn't know you had a passenger with you!"

The tone of her voice sounds African and kind.

Stephanie glanced over to her from looking over at Thomas, who was blushing and pouting slightly and smiled a friendly smile.

"Salamu!" Stephanie greeted in Swahili, surprising Thomas as the expression on his face changed from pouting.

She also seemed surprised by the response that Stephanie said to her, too, but then smiled happily.

"Ah, Salamu!" She greeted back. "Jina langu ni Nia! Jina lako nani?"

"Jina langu ni Stephanie, Stephanie Nova Rose Allen." Stephanie greeted back, bowing slightly. "Na, kitten hiki kidogo mikononi mwangu ni Mittens."

"Ah! Kitoto kipya!" Nia remarked as Stephanie chuckled.

The trains looked confused about what they are saying, not understanding what they said.

"What are they saying?" James asked Gordon, who grunted 'I don't know' sound from the back of his throat.

Nia and Stephanie glanced over at the confused trains and chuckled at the same time.

"We were both greeting each other, James!" Nia chuckled. "She understands my language from back in Africa, Swahili!"

Everyone perked a little in surprise from Nia's language.

"She understood your language?" James curiously asked.

Stephanie nodded her head and responded, in Nia's language, "Je! Wewe ni mjinga kila wakati au leo ni tukio maalum?"

Nia started laughing as James looked confused about why she is grinning.

Stephanie was also laughing along with her too.

Even all the trains looked confused too, as they both laughed for a moment.

"Oh, I like this girl!" Nia remarked.

Stephanie blushed a little from Nia's remark and glanced over at James.

"I learned how to speak Swahili when I visited Africa a long time ago!" Stephanie smiled. "So, I learned about…" she paused a little to count, using her fingers. "…Maybe 30 or 50 languages."

The trains looked surprised by Stephanie's explanation about how she learned languages.

"I thought you were African like me." Nia softly spoke.

Stephanie noticed the look on her face and winced slightly.

"Sorry, Nia." Stephanie apologized. "But I love Africa! It's very colorful there like you!"

Nia's cheeks blushed from Stephanie's response, as small puffs of clouds came from her chimney.

Stephanie smiled softly from the look on her face before looking at the other two trains.

"By the way, forgive me for being off-topic," Stephanie apologized again, bowing slightly from inside Thomas' cab. "My name is Stephanie, Stephanie Nova Rose Allen."

"I'm Emily." the first train greeted.

"And I'm Rebecca!" the second train greeted.

Stephanie's expression looked slightly surprised from the name before sighing.

"It's… a pleasure to meet you, Beck." Stephanie slowly greeted.

Everyone noticed the expression on Stephanie's face as she unzipped her sweater, being really careful with the sleeping kitten in her hand.

"What's wrong with her name, Stephanie?" Thomas asked, noticing the look on her face.

"N-Nothing." Stephanie stammered, shaking her head as she has her sweater over one arm, and holding the kitten in her hands. "It's a painful memory."

From underneath her sweater, she was wearing a long-sleeved light blue shirt.

Everyone glanced away from her for a moment, thinking about Rebecca's name that might have sparked one that made her feel a bit sad.

During that moment, Stephanie gently placed Mittens down on the ground of Thomas' cab on top of her sweater, wrapping her around to be warm.

After placing the little kitten down on the ground and in her sweater to be warm, Stephanie stepped out of Thomas' cab and spoke to the trains who followed after him.

"Alright, we need to be together if we are going through some trouble, so everyone goes behind Thomas." Stephanie gently ordered as all of them nodded.

After each one lined up behind Thomas, who looked confused than annoyed, as she hooked them up with her hands.

"Don't you need a hook to do that?" Gordon asked, huffing slightly.

"Nah," Stephanie shook her head. "I'm not afraid of getting a little dirt on my hands."

Gordon looked curious as she hooked Percy up from behind Gordon, before reaching the end of the line, hooking Nia up.

"Asante!" Nia thanked in Swahili.

"Karibu!" Stephanie granted back in her language, running back up to Thomas and climbing back into him. "Alright, let's go!"

Thomas nodded and started to ride, while everyone else followed behind him, at the same speed.

During that time, Stephanie picked the sleeping Mittens up from the ground in her sweater, patting her head gently as she glanced out of the window.

"Hey, since it's going to take a long time to get to the Golden Mountain," Nia spoke, gathering everyone's attention. "Let's sing some music! First, let's hear it from Stephanie!"

Stephanie's cheeks blushed slightly, glancing away from her.

"Come on, Steph!" Thomas eager Stephanie on. "Let's hear you sing!"

Stephanie hesitated for a moment, blushing slightly in a neon pink color before smiling nervously.

"🎵Tell everybody I'm on my way,🎵" Stephanie sang, which sounded marvelous to the trains, as they looked bewildered. "🎵New friends and new places to see~.🎵"

Stephanie stopped after she sang a line from a song she remembered from a movie when she was little, feeling slightly nervous about what their reaction would be to her singing.

Instead, they smiled, which made her feel a little more nervous about what they are thinking about.

"🎵With blue skies ahead, yes, I'm on my way,🎵" Stephanie continued singing, perking a little from being a little scared. "🎵And there's nowhere else, that I'd rather be~.🎵"

She paused, glancing away and blushing, as it reached the tips of her ears.

"🎵Tell everybody I'm on my way,🎵" Nia sang from behind, startling Stephanie slightly, and she glanced over behind her. "🎵And I'm loving every step I take~!🎵"

Stephanie paused for a moment, her expression on her face looked slightly surprised from their singing before smiling lightly.

"🎵With the sun beating down, yes,🎵" Thomas joined, bouncing slightly in tune, which caused Stephanie to reach down to Mittens and picked her up before she could accidentally jump out of Thomas. "🎵I'm on my way, and I can't keep this smile off my face~!🎵"

During the time, Stephanie continued listening to them, sometimes join in a little.

"🎵'Cause there's nothing like seeing each other again,🎵" the others joined in, as Stephanie gently tapped her foot along with the music, sometimes gained her balance when Thomas bounced around a little. "🎵No matter what the distance between~.🎵"

During that time, they took a break for a moment during the adventure, as Stephanie was telling stories to the steam trains, while Gordon looked slightly impatient.

"🎵And the stories that we tell will make you smile~,🎵" Nia sang, perking Stephanie a little after having a break. "🎵Oh, it really lifts my heart~!🎵"

Then, they went across a field of dandelion puffs, and a gust of wind blew at them, causing them to scatter into the air.

It created a beautiful scenery, and Stephanie chuckled softly, moving some from her face to see better.

"🎵So tell 'em all I'm on my way,🎵" They continued singing while going through the clouds of them. "🎵New friends and new places to see~.🎵"

Gordon's face was covered in the dandelion puffs, except his eyes and mouth.

Edward behind him giggled to himself from the way they were covering his face, until he sneezed, blowing all the puffs off his face.

When nighttime comes, Stephanie and the steam trains took a nap, sleeping under the stars, while Stephanie was close to Thomas.

"🎵And to sleep under the stars,🎵" the singing continued. "🎵Who could ask for more, with the moon keeping watch over me~.🎵"

Soon, it was raining, as Stephanie still had her head poking out of the window, her glasses off and soaking wet.

"🎵Not the snow, not the rain, can change my mind,🎵" they continued singing. "🎵The sun will come out, wait, and see~.🎵"

Then, when they reached a hill, strong gusts of wind blew past them, but Stephanie was smiling, as her long brown hair waved around.

"🎵And the feeling of the wind in your face,🎵" The trains continued. "🎵Can lift your heart~.🎵"

Then, they went down the hill after the wind stopped blowing.

Since there was weight from the trains, they drove at a fast pace down the hillside and going into a small puddle of mud.

Mud scattered everywhere, including over the trains, and Stephanie, who was out the window a little too much.

Luckily, Mittens the kitten did not get covered in the mud since she was sleeping.

They paused for a moment as Stephanie stepped outside, as Thomas' cheeks blushed a little in shame and felt a little silly for making her dirty.

Until Stephanie laughed, shaking some mud off her hands.

Soon, Thomas and his friends chuckled along with her from being splashed with mud.

After laughing, Stephanie started wiping the mud off of them with towels she had pulled out from her sweater pockets.

"🎵Oh, there's nowhere I would rather be~,🎵" The singing continued, before fading a little. "🎵'Cause I'm on my way now, well and truly, I'm on my way now.🎵"

They rolled up towards a large puddle of water, and the rails were underneath the water.

"I don't think we could cross that." Edward sighed as they stopped in front of it.

"And I don't see any other tracks to go to," Emily responded, glancing around.

Stephanie thought to herself for a moment, before asking, "Are you all worried that the rails might sink underneath the mud since it is soggy from the puddle?"

All trains nodded in response to Stephanie's question.

"Not only that, Stephanie," Thomas spoke. "We are too heavy to go across it too."

All of them paused for a moment before Stephanie perked a little.

"I think I have a solution to that." She stepped out of Thomas and walked over to the water.

She stopped for a moment, before glancing over her shoulder.

"You all might be surprised at what else I'm going to do." She warned as the roots of her hair from the top of her hair started to turn blue slowly.

Her eyes turned the same color too, confusing, worrying, and surprising the trains.

"Uh, Stephanie?" Thomas spoke. "What are you doing?"

Stephanie did not respond to their question and knelt down, gently tapping the water once with two of her fingers of her left hand.

After tapping the top of the water, she reached over to her sleeve and pulled it up slightly to the middle of her arm, somehow revealing a bitemark on her wrist.

Luckily, they did not notice the bite mark on her wrist as she was busy with the water.

With her left hand, she reached into the water.

When she reached the mud, she pushed down on the wood of the rails, with the same exact weight of the trains.

The rails did not sink through except stayed where they were.

Sighed, she moved her hand back up, and stood up, wiping her wet hand on the pant leg of her blue jeans.

After wiping her hand on her pant leg, she pushed her sleeve back over her arm to cover her scar.

"Alright," She spoke, climbing into Thomas. "We can continue moving forward."

Startled looks appeared on their faces when Stephanie said that.

"Are you crazy?!" Gordon exclaimed. "We could sink through the ground! And what did you do?! Is it normal for - Whoa!"

Before he could continue, something powerful had pushed everyone forward as they closed their eyes for the impact.

It pushed them into the puddle as the water rose up to their bottom of their cabs.

When they are all in the water, the rails underneath their weight did not sink into the mud.

They still had their eyes closed, but when they peeked to see what was going on, they were surprised at how firm the mud was underneath.

Curiously, Thomas bravely leaned his weight forward to see what happens next, but nothing happened.

"See?" Stephanie spoke, perking a little. "We may continue."

They glanced at each other for a moment from behind before continuing moving forward slowly.

Inch by inch, they waited for a few minutes when they stopped again, seeing what would happen next.

But nothing happened after they stopped again.

So, they picked up speed, seeing what else would happen.

Still, nothing happened as they went through the water.

"This feels a bit strange," Thomas spoke, shuddering slightly from the cold water against his axles.

Stephanie giggled and gently patted the side of his body.

"It's okay," Stephanie assured. "I used some magic to make the mud underneath firm so that you all could cross it without trouble. Besides, it gives you a nice bath."

Thomas was surprised that she has magic but smiled.

"Until it freezes our wheels," Gordon mumbled from the back.

"🎵Tell everybody I'm on my way,🎵" the singing continued as they continued through the water. "🎵And I just can't wait to be there~.🎵"

Thomas felt braver, so he sped up more, splashing water against the dry land as they passed by.

James wanted to complain about his paint job getting muddy, but does not want to open his mouth to get mud in it.

The others behind him sped up along with him, looking a little worried, but curious.

"🎵With blue skies ahead, yes, I'm on my way,🎵" The singing continued as they went a bit deeper into the water, but instead of flooding the cabin where Stephanie is inside. "🎵And nothing but good times to share~.🎵"

"🎵So tell everybody I'm on my way,🎵" Percy chuckled from going through the water, glancing around, and seeing his reflection from the side of him. "🎵And I just can't wait to be home~.🎵"

Gordon shuddered quietly to himself from the feeling of the water against his axles but continued moving on.

Stephanie carefully climbed out of the cabin to the top of Thomas' roof of his cab, as Thomas slowed down a little to not accidentally make her fall off by the speed.

Stephanie stood up to her feet and glanced over at Nia, grinning cockily.

Gordon rolled his eyes while grumbling to himself.

"🎵So tell everybody I'm on my way,🎵" The song continued, as Thomas wiggled his body slightly to tease Stephanie slightly. "🎵And I just can't wait to be home~.🎵"

"🎵With the sun beating down yes,🎵" Henry looked a little worried for Stephanie as he watched them horse around but mostly concerned about the surrounding water. "🎵I'm on my way~.🎵"

"🎵And nothing but good times to show,🎵" Stephanie still had her balance on top of him, and Thomas stopped shaking his body, chuckling. "🎵I'm on my way~.🎵"

Nia chuckled and finished the song at the top of her lungs, "🎵Yes, we're on our way~!🎵" as they went off into the distance.

1


	5. Lost And Found

They continued going through the land, until they reached a massive forest, entering deep inside.

A few times, Stephanie would point out some birds that are in the forest to the steam trains, naming off some of them from their species and repeat the name in Latin.

It curious Henry about the birds, but he was a little worried about being lost in the forest without noticing.

When they were all deep inside the forest, they slowed down a little, as Stephanie peered out the window inside Thomas' cab.

It was semi-dark outside, not forgetting a little chilly to Stephanie.

She does not seem to be cold as she stood there without shivering, glancing around at her surroundings from Thomas' cab window.

Probably the reason why is that she is wearing her sweater on her.

"Uh, Stephanie?" James spoke, sounding a little scared. "Do you have a map to go through this forest?"

Stephanie glanced over her shoulder at them and shook her head no.

"YOU DIDN'T?!" Gordon exclaimed loudly, causing birds to fly out the trees. "Why didn't you two get one?!"

"We were both excited to go on the adventure, Gordon!" Stephanie protested for Thomas. "Besides, we both forgot a lot of things!"

"Oh, dear…" Henry sighed.

Stephanie mentally bit the bottom of her lip with her teeth, before going back into Thomas.

"Oh, the indignity!" Gordon continued complaining. "We are going to be stuck out here until we run out and who knows when we are going to-"

"GORDON!" Stephanie suddenly snapped, causing him to jolt slightly from the sound of the voice and instantly stopped complaining.

Everyone else also jolted from the sudden tone of her voice, looking surprised that had come out from her instantaneously.

And, it was also unusual for her to snap suddenly.

"That's enough." She popped her head back out and sighed, placing a hand against the side of her head. "We are not going to be lost in these woods . We are going to try different routes and see which one goes to which. So, please, be patient."

Thomas and the rest of the trains, including Gordon was slightly surprised at how stern Stephanie was as she faced back in front, her elbows resting on the arm of the window.

"Wow, that's out of the blue for you, Stephanie," Thomas spoke, mentally chuckling to himself for the little pun between the two.

Stephanie's cheeks blushed a little in slight shame for her anger.

"I'm sorry," she apologized, glancing back over to Gordon. "Sometimes, I just don't like it when people are impatient. It gets me a little more stressed than it was before."

Gordon glanced away from her for a moment, thinking to himself.

"Oh, don't worry about it, Steph!" Braedey assured her when he noticed her shameful blush. "I always snap at people when someone is not cooperating, too."

Stephanie glanced away from him, blushing a bit more that reaches over to the tips of her ears.

Then, a soft and weak meow came from the inside of Thomas' cabin, snapping Stephanie out of her thoughts.

The noise not only captured his but everyone else's attention.

Except for Thomas, who was more focused on the rails.

They looked around for the source of the noise, as Stephanie moved back inside Thomas' cab, ducking down slightly.

"What on earth was that?" James asked.

"Whoops," Stephanie spoke from inside of Thomas, causing them to glance forward. "I think my angry voice accidentally woke up poor Mittens from her sleep."

"The kitten?" Nia asked from behind.

"There's a cat inside Thomas?" Gordon asked, looking confused.

He did not sound annoyed anymore after Stephanie had snapped at him for his complaint.

"Yes," Thomas nodded. "Stephanie found her along the side of the railway. I think someone abandoned her a few weeks ago."

"That's terrible!" Percy spoke, sounding worried about the little kitten. "Why would someone do that to the poor kitten?!"

"I don't know, Percy." Thomas sighed, glancing away. "I don't know."

Inside, Stephanie was holding the kitten gently in her arms, sitting down on the ground with her legs crossed.

The kitten was awake and blinking her eyes slowly, revealing to be a beautiful blue color.

Mittens mewed again weakly, which made Stephanie feel sorry for the little kitten.

Stephanie brought out some water for the little kitten from her sweater pocket off the ground that was keeping her warm, allowing the small creature to drink out of her hand.

After the kitten finished drinking some water out from her hand, Stephanie stood back up from the ground, still holding the kitten in her arms, bundled up in the sweater.

"Is she alright?" Henry softly asked, sounding concerned.

Stephanie glanced over her shoulder to Henry before nodding her head.

"Yes, she is alright," Stephanie called to them. "Just needs some water. Luckily I have some in my bottle."

A pause came from the trains, before Edward asked, "I didn't see any water bottles inside your pockets in the first place, Stephanie."

"Yes, how are you able to bring out one?" Percy piped in.

Stephanie bit the bottom of her lip with her teeth.

She has forgotten to tell them, including Thomas, of how she can contain items into her sweater pockets.

Thomas stopped in front of the split between the rails and glanced over at Stephanie.

"You could come out now," Thomas spoke. "And show us what you meant in the first place."

Stephanie stepped out of Thomas and stood right where they could see her.

It was right where they would not have to look at her from the corner of their eyes.

She had Mittens with her in one of her arms as she had her sweater back on her body.

Stephanie also seemed to be not irritated at the small fur clinging against her sweater, either.

"Watch." With her right hand, she put her arm inside her large sweater pocket, rummaging through it for a moment.

To the trains' surprise, her arm went through it completely, reaching up to her elbow.

Then, she pulled out her thermos that had her coffee inside from earlier in the morning, showing it to them.

But, she also chuckled slightly.

"I forgot that I had this in my pocket." Stephanie chuckled.

"How are you able to do that, Stephanie?" Thomas asked curiously.

"Magic." she chuckled, placing the thermos back inside her sweater pocket. "Since my sweater is cast with some magic that allows me to bring up items that I found or carried with me during the adventure. For instance," she paused as she reached back inside the same sweater pocket that she pulled the thermos out of, rummaging and pulled out a bag filled with some seeds. "Like this. It's bird seeds, by the way."

Thomas and the trains looked surprised until she placed the bird seeds in the bag back inside her sweater pocket.

"But, there's a side effect about that," she placed Mittens inside her other pocket, which she did not fully enter inside but only reached up to the bottom of her neck. "The magic does not allow live objects to go inside. Just only non-sentient objects."

Thomas looked curious as Stephanie gently took Mittens out of her pocket.

"What else?" James asked, sounding curious about her sweater.

"Uh," Stephanie paused for a moment. "The magic also does not allow larger objects, for instance, rocks the size of a train's wheel, would be too big for it to fit."

"What about your sweater getting wet from the rain?" Rebecca asked.

"No, it does not get wet in the rain either," Stephanie shook her head. "The magic blocks that and instead my sweater would be drenched. Besides, there's a lot more than what meets the eye with my sweater too."

"What is it?" Thomas asked.

Smirking, Stephanie placed her finger against her lips, gently shushing them.

"That I'll save for a secret," Stephanie smirked.

A meow came from the kitten in Stephanie's sweater pocket, which made her look down at Mittens.

"You slept through the whole day, little one." Stephanie softly spoke, lifting the kitten up from her sweater pocket and up to her face, with her hands underneath the armpits. "You must've been exhausted from running all day, scared of the noisy noises the trains made as they pass by."

The trains glanced away from Stephanie, blushing a little as Henry, on the other hand, looked really apologetic for the little kitten.

Mittens mewed again, and Stephanie moved her closer to her face, gently nuzzling the little kitten's chest with her nose as she purred.

"Heh," Stephanie softly chuckled, pulling Mittens away from her face and down to her chest, slightly covered in cat fur. "Would you guys like to see her?"

"But, what about the adventure?" Thomas asked, sounding a bit impatient.

"It's okay." Stephanie softly spoke, cradling Mittens in her arm. "It's not a race. Besides, magic can't go away that easily. It just takes a long time. Be patient."

With that, she walked away from a slightly surprised Thomas, walking over to Percy behind him.

Holding the kitten gently from underneath the armpits and facing him, she lifted the kitten up to show Percy Mittens better.

Mittens mewed when she noticed Percy.

"Aw!" Percy smiled. "She's so cute!"

Stephanie chuckled and nodded her head, moving her down slightly to her chest and walked over to James behind Percy.

Thomas in the front looked slightly irritated, but remembering Stephanie's orders, he remained at where he is, patiently but forcefully waiting for her to show the kitten to his friends.

She stood next to James and repeated the process, showing him Mittens.

He chuckled as Mittens mewed at him, while Stephanie smiled.

"She's so small!" James remarked. "And quite fierce to be brave on the side of the railroads."

Stephanie nodded her head and moved Mittens back down.

"Just like you, James." she nodded, walking over to Gordon behind James. "Just like you."

Without her noticing, James was blushing as small puffs of steam were coming out from his chimney.

Stephanie repeated the same process to Gordon, lifting Mittens up to show him.

He looked unimpressed as Mittens mewed at him.

"Hmph," he huffed, glancing to the side, his gaze looking away from Mittens. "She's just a small kitten."

Stephanie rolled her eyes and moved Mittens back down to her chest, walking over to Edward behind Gordon.

She did the same process as she did to Percy and show Edward Mittens.

He softly chuckled as Mittens mewed at him.

"She's really adorable," Edward remarked.

Stephanie smiled towards Edward and moved over to Henry from behind him.

Henry looked slightly worried about the kitten as Stephanie stood next to him, repeating the same process, lifting Mittens up to show him.

Mittens mewed at him, which made him smile a little.

"Aw!" he chuckled as Stephanie smiled. "How old is she?"

"Uh," Stephanie spoke, lifting her down to her eyesight and taking a quick look at the age. "Maybe 6 weeks years old?"

"So young!" Emily remarked from behind Henry. "Could I see her?"

Stephanie nodded her head and walked over to Emily, showing the kitten.

Emily gently chuckled as Stephanie smiled, revealing some of her teeth through her lips, moving the kitten close to her body, and patting the top of the head.

Distantly, Emily could notice that there were sharp canines from the corners of Stephanie's mouth.

She closed her mouth again after chuckling and walked off, heading towards Rebecca past Nia, who had already seen the kitten before.

When she got over to Rebecca, she repeated the same process to her, smiling gently.

"Aw!" Rebecca remarked, chuckling gently. "So cute!"

Stephanie beamed and walked towards Braedey, repeating the same thing, holding Mittens up and showing her to him.

Braedey smiled gently and said, "She's pretty adorable!"

Stephanie nodded her head happily and turned around, walking back towards Thomas while carrying Mittens in her arms.

Thomas, on the other hand, was slightly relieved that she finished showing the kitten, but was impatient.

"Took you long enough." Thomas sighed as she walked back inside.

"I took my time." Stephanie sternly spoke as she placed Mittens down on the ground, before petting her back with her hand. "Now, which way to go?"

Thomas slightly groaned as Stephanie glanced side to side, her left eye scanning each route.

"For Heaven's sake!" Gordon groaned in the back. "We're lost! There's no map, we have no clue, and we might run out of coal and water by the time we find our way!"

Stephanie ignored Gordon's complaints and focused on her sight, allowing her left eye to take control of her vision.

It showed a diagram of the forest, which was an enormous forest and the mountain where they needed to enter through the caves.

She automatically moved the map of the forest down to where they were.

It seems like they were stuck in the middle of the forest.

When she reached to where they were, she could see the diagrams of her and the trains.

Her left eye scanned the trains without them noticing and revealed their body functions, their bios, and their history.

She skimmed through them quickly before placing them away into a file.

Stephanie moved the map up a little to the railroads ahead.

She could see that many forks that either lead to nowhere or to a buffer.

So, using her marking, she marked the railroads that are easy to go through, and where they lead to.

The one on the right was a dead end, while the other on the left goes to another fork.

After she had marked the railroads to go down, Stephanie blinked her eyes, her vision going back to normal.

"Take a left, Thomas," Stephanie spoke after being quiet for a few minutes.

Thomas felt puzzled for a moment before going to the left.

"Why not going to the right?" Percy asked.

"It only goes to a dead-end, Percy," Stephanie responded, answering to Percy's question.

"How did you know that?" Thomas asked, not sounding irritated anymore.

"See for yourself," Stephanie mentioned while pointing to the side as they passed a dead end that only leads to a buffer.

Thomas felt curious about it before remembering her left metal eye that he saw before.

She must have scanned the whole forest to find which way to go!

Thomas mentally sighed to himself in relief and continued going down the rails until coming up to another fork.

"Go to the right," Stephanie directed as Thomas followed the orders as she gave to him. "Then, to the left."

Thomas felt more confused as Stephanie directed him, telling him which direction to turn.

"It's almost like a maze," Nia remarked. "Except with trees."

Stephanie absent-mindedly nodded her head in response to her remark about the forest they are inside.

"Turn to the-" Stephanie spoke before pausing when she noticed something from the corner of her eye.

"What's wrong?" Gordon asked, noticing the pause in Stephanie's sentence.

Stephanie poked her head out more from Thomas' cab and squinted her eyes a little.

In her vision, her left metal eye zoomed in a little, revealing to be a lever that turns railways of the same tracks.

Curious and suspicious, Stephanie said, "Thomas, turn to the left this time instead of the right."

Thomas did what she said and turned to the left, reaching a dead end and at a pair of buffers.

After he had stopped before hitting the buffers, Stephanie placed Mittens down on the ground, telling her to stay here, before climbing out.

"What is it this time?" Gordon groaned.

Stephanie said nothing and walked over an ivy-covered object that was sticking out from the ground.

When she walked over to the ivy-covered object, she moved some of the leaves that were covering it way, revealing to be a railroad lever.

"That's a lever!" James noted. "But where does it lead us to?"

Stephanie shrugged to herself for a moment, before gripping it with her hands, pulling back as a click came from the tracks.

It perked everyone's attention, so, Stephanie got back into Thomas and said, "May you continue moving?"

Thomas nodded his head and continued, while the other trains followed behind him.

He went down the railway tracks through the bushes, which were luckily not sharp or poisonous.

James looked a little annoyed as some bushes went into his face, sputtering a bit and blowing some of the leaves off his face.

Gordon closed his eyes as they went past his face, too, gritting his teeth in annoyance as Edward behind him chuckled a little.

Then, they came across a large opening in the forest.

At that time, Gordon's and James' faces were almost covered in leaves as they blew some of them off, while the others just shook it off with their bodies.

"What's this?" Thomas curiously questioned loudly to himself, glancing around.

Stephanie also peered outside, glancing around in curiosity too, while holding Mittens in her arm.

"Thomas," Stephanie spoke, as Thomas stopped when he heard his name. "Uh, thank you. I needed you to stop for a moment."

"Why?" Percy asked as in the background, James sputtered some leaves out of his mouth. "Is there something wrong?"

Stephanie shook her head no and stepped outside while holding Mittens in her arms.

The clearing looked suspicious about something, as Stephanie had her guard up.

Suddenly, Mittens jumped out of her arms and ran over to something against a tree.

"Mittens, where are you going?" Henry called after the kitten, as Stephanie followed behind.

"Maybe use the restroom?" Nia suggested.

But, Mittens stopped in front of something in front of the tree.

She sniffed the item underneath the ivy before mewing and rubbed against it.

Stephanie hesitated for a moment, double-thinking about what it could be from underneath the ivy that Mittens have found.

But, she took a deep breath, calming her nerves down, and walked over to the object and stopped in front.

She, too, looked curious about it.

She knelt down on one knee against the grass and gazed at it for a moment, wondering to herself about what it could be.

"What's going on?" Henry worriedly called, glancing around.

"I think Mittens found something," Stephanie called back, reaching over to the vines with her hands.

"What did she find?" Thomas asked.

Stephanie did not answer to Henry's question and started to pull the vines away from the object with her hands.

Mittens was sitting next to her, sitting down on her bottom and watching her work.

After getting the last vine off, she was surprised to see there was a small box in front of the tree.

It was old and looked like it was made out of oak.

Detailed patterns were decorated on the top and sides of the box.

Each pattern on the inside is in a darker color, and as the ones on the outside are blank.

Curiously, she touched the box with her left hand to see how fresh it was, before her powers kicked in, revealing a vision.

* * *

In the vision, she could see a conductor, wearing old clothes that resemble a conductor, except looked old-fashioned.

The conductor had the box in his hands, looking at it for a moment before someone or something got his attention.

He placed the puzzle box down on the ground, and walked away, leaving it there for many, many years.

* * *

Stephanie blinked her eyes after the vision disappeared, moving her left hand away for a moment.

'What a strange memory…' she thought to herself, before gently rubbing the side of her head, feeling a slight of a headache coming in.

"Stephanie?!" A panicked voice suddenly called to her. "What's going on?!"

She glanced over her shoulder to the others, noticing their worried faces, as Henry and Percy looked more anxious than them.

"S-Sorry about that!" Stephanie called them, stammering a bit. "I just saw something!"

"What did you see?" Percy called.

Stephanie turned back around and picked the box up from the ground, standing back up to her height.

Oddly, there was no grass stain against her pant leg when she knelt down to the ground.

She walked back over to them while Mittens walked by her side.

When she got over to the trains, she showed them the box that Mittens found from underneath the ivy.

"What is that?" Thomas curiously asked.

"It's a puzzle box!" Stephanie smirked, beaming a little. "I've seen one of these before! It's made in Japan too!"

Thomas and the others looked surprised.

"Just like Hiro?" Thomas curiously asked.

Stephanie looked slightly confused about the name 'Hiro' but shrugged her shoulders slightly.

"Yeah, just like him." Stephanie nodded.

"Then… what's a Japanese puzzle box doing out here?" Gordon slowly asked.

Stephanie shrugged again to herself, mostly towards the trains.

"I saw a vision when I touched it," Stephanie spoke, looking all over for any markings of engraving of someone's initials.

"What was in the vision?" Henry asked.

Stephanie paused for a moment after looking all over the box, thinking to herself.

"Well, it shows a guy that is holding this box," Stephanie explained. "Young and wearing a conductor's outfit, except in a brown color instead of a blue."

"That must've been the conductor in the story!" Percy exclaimed.

"Shh!" Gordon snapped. "It couldn't be him! It could've been someone else!"

Stephanie rose an eyebrow and shrugged her shoulders.

"I don't know," Stephanie spoke. "But,… let's see what he had left first."


	6. The First Clue

All the steam trains looked surprised and scared after Stephanie said that she is going to open the box to see what could be inside.

"A-Are you crazy?!" Percy exclaimed. "What if there is something horrible inside that box?!"

"Yes, like Pandora's box!" Gordon exclaimed.

"If you open it, horrible things could pop out of it!" Braedey panicked. "Didn't you learn that in History class?"

Stephanie glanced up at them from the box, smiling slightly with a slight smirk.

Everyone felt worried about that look on her face, as small puffs of steam came out of their chimneys at a fast pace.

"I didn't know you can read," Stephanie remarked, absent-mindedly noticing the puffs that are coming out of their chimneys.

"Err, well," Gordon stammered. "Besides that, but are you thick-headed to open that?!"

Stephanie had an unamused look on her face than a smiling one.

"That's what Americans are, Gordon," Stephanie spoke. "Americans are thick-headed and stubborn. And I'm full of it."

Soft chuckles came from the group, but it also sounded worried too.

Stephanie chuckled before looking at the sides of the box in her hands, noticing there was a hidden slide key.

So, using the tip of her thumb, she slid the key to the left.

A click came from the top of the box after she had moved the key.

Henry slightly yelped as she opened the first key of the box, slowly opening it with caution.

Despite being thick-headed like how she described Americans like, she was being extremely cautious with the box so it would not collapse in her hands, or let something dangerous inside let loose and try to hurt anyone.

Being careful, Stephanie moved the lid over as a small crack appeared on it.

Still, nothing popped out from the small crack of the lid, as Stephanie mentally sighed in relief.

"Careful!" Henry worriedly spoke.

"Oh, we are going to be dead!" Gordon whined, closing his eyes.

Stephanie nodded her head mentally to herself about Henry's warnings and moved to the other side, moving the second slide key the same direction the other went.

But, it did not budge when she moved that direction.

So, she tried moving it to the other side, which caused it to move, and the box clicked again.

She moved her hand up to the lid, preparing herself for the attack after opening the lid fully.

When she slid the lid off completely, nothing happened after the cover was off.

Curious, she peeked inside the box in her hand, seeing there was something inside.

But, it was unlike dangerous and deadly, it was something else that was out of the ordinary.

The steam trains have their eyes closed, preparing the worst too, but noticed that nothing was happening.

Cautiously, Henry opened one eye, glancing around for a moment.

"Huh," Stephanie spoke, causing Henry to open both of his eyes, glancing over to her and noticing she was staring inside the box. "That's strange…"

"What is it?" Henry worriedly asked, as the others slowly opened their eyes.

Stephanie reached into the box with her hand as the steam trains winced in fear.

She gripped onto something and took out what was inside, showing the item to the steam trains after they all opened their eyes.

It was a key that was hidden inside the puzzle box.

The head of the key was made out of silver metal and shaped into a diamond.

The blade to the shoulders and the notches were made out of sky blue crystal.

It felt strange for this type of key in Stephanie's hand.

"Where does that key belong to?" Thomas curiously asked, not sounding scared anymore.

Stephanie glanced up at them and lightly shrugged her shoulders, before placing the key into her sweater pocket, along with the box she had found along with Mittens into the other one.

"I don't know," she sighed, before bending over and picking Mittens up from the ground, who was close to her legs. "But, let's continue our way through this forest to get to Golden Mountain."

Thomas nodded and waited for Stephanie climbed inside his cab.

He continued puffing down the railroad, while Stephanie placed Mittens down on the ground of the cab, gently scratching her back with her hand.

Mittens purred gently and rubbed against her legs, as she chuckled softly, watching her move around and her tail curling around her leg while rubbing against.

Stephanie peered out of the window again as Mittens laid down against her legs while purring.

She watched as the scenery of the forest passed by them.

She kept thinking about that box that she had found earlier from Mittens and wondered about the conductor that she saw in her vision.

Her mind rambles a few times about what she saw, thinking that she might have seen someone or something else inside.

She swore to herself she had seen a train in her vision.

Thomas noticed Stephanie sounds quiet, so, he felt curious about what she is thinking about.

"Hey, Stephanie," he spoke, catching her attention from her thoughts, snapping her back to reality. "What are you thinking about?"

Stephanie paused for a moment and responded, "I was thinking about that vision I saw after touching that Japanese box. I saw a train with the conductor in it."

"You did?" Edward asked. "What else?"

"It just ended like that." Stephanie sighed, rubbing the back of her neck. "There was nothing else after that too. I wish there were more details than that…"

Thomas paused for a moment, thinking to himself about what Stephanie said about her vision.

"Perhaps you are making this up," Gordon grumbled from behind. "If you are, then stop it, it is not remotely funny."

"I can't say the same with your face, Gordon!" Stephanie snapped before glancing away from him, huffing.

Gordon looked surprised by what Stephanie snapped at him again, as Edward looked surprised too.

Stifled sniggers came from the steam trains as they followed Thomas, while Braedey was chuckling from the snap Stephanie made.

Gordon groaned and glanced away from the front, blushing slightly.

Thomas felt a little irritated about Gordon's response to her vision as the steam trains were giggling quietly and glanced away, focusing on the rails instead of the conversation between the two.

It took a while as they went through the forest, as Stephanie was taking care of Mittens, checking on her if she is still tired.

Not only that, she even checked her health, and if anything else was going on with her too.

The inside of Thomas was not that bad after all, as Stepanie thought it would be.

Stephanie picked Mittens up from the ground again.

There were many gauges, levers, and pipes on the front of the room.

Not forgetting there is a string above Stephanie's head that leads to the whistle.

The heat inside was not too hot or cold, but homely warm.

Stephanie was sitting at the back of Thomas' cab, gently petting and rubbing Mittens' back, as Mittens was in her lap, purring softly.

There was a soft and sad look on Stephanie's face as she stroked Mittens' head, gently scratching between the ears.

She remembered times when she was a young girl, before transforming into a cyborg, she used to have three cats at her home, each in different colors.

Stephanie used to pet their heads with her hands gently, and they would curl up into her lap, purring and enjoying the rubs she gives to them.

It made her feel homesick about her home as the feeling inside Thomas' cab reminds her of it.

She continued sitting down on the ground, gently rubbing Mittens as she thought to herself, watching the controls as they moved by themselves.

Thomas noticed Stephanie was not talking to them anymore and looked concerned about her.

Since she snapped at Gordon about what she had seen in her vision of the past from the Japanese puzzle box, she had been quiet for a long time, not even bothering to talk to him or any other train.

Then, Thomas noticed something strange on the railroad, which caused him to stop.

But, the others behind him were distracted by their thinking, bumped into Thomas' back buffers as he yelped.

Stephanie was startled from it and jolted as Mittens jumped too, meowing slightly in a panic.

"What's wrong?" Stephanie asked, standing up to her feet quickly from the floor of the cab. "Are we still lost, or did something crashed on the path of the rails?"

She poked her head out from the window, looking at the back of Thomas to check on the others.

"No," Thomas answered to Stephanie's questions. "There's something wrong with this gate."

A pause came from Stephanie, looking a little confused from the response Thomas gave to her.

"What gate?" she questioned, glancing over to the front of the steam trains.

When she glanced over to the front, she noticed there was a wire fence blocking the other side of the forest, except there is no gate along the rails for steam trains to go through.

Confused, she placed Mittens down on the ground, telling her to stay there on the spot and stepped out of Thomas' cab.

Once she had stepped out of Thomas' cab, she walked over to where the gate was.

Thinking to herself in confusion, she blinked her eyes, allowing her left eye to do its job.

Her eye scanned the remaining fence, and it reveals the gate that was blocking the way was ripped off from the hinges.

She glanced side to side, wondering where it could be, until she found the gate, off the hinges and on the ground in the grass.

Stephanie got closer to the gate and looked at the damage, seeing someone or something had used a claw at it.

Touching it with her left hand, she saw another vision, this time, she could clearly see it than the previous one she saw.

In her vision, she could see Diesel 10, Splatter, Dodge, Croghan along with another diesel, and a human, who is halfway out of the other diesel's cab.

The train is painted in black livery and has silver side rods.

The human has short gray hair with a stubble that is slowly turning white from age.

He also has fair skin, with steel-blue eye color.

He wears a white sailor's hat and a turtleneck light gray sweater.

Over his light gray sweater is a long-sleeved navy blue coat with a V-neck and 6 buttons on the front.

Topping things off, he also wears a pair of black pants, and waterproof black shoes.

Diesel 10 was smirking as the pincher on top of him lifted by command and went towards the gate, grabbing it as if it was garbage compared to him.

The pincher then ripped the gate off the hinges and flung it over to the side, causing it to crash on the ground and bent out of place.

Splatter, Dodge, the other train, and the old man laughed, as Diesel 10 laughed along with them.

After the gate was out of the way, Diesel 10 and his mischievous crew drove through the pathway that used to be blocked.

They were heading towards where they were traveling to, disappearing deep into the forest.

The vision disappeared, and Stephanie blinked her eyes, moving her hand up and away from the gate.

"Stephanie?!" A panicked voice came from behind her, causing her to look over her shoulder to the steam trains.

Henry looked really worried about her again, just like what happened last time with the puzzle box that she had found.

"What's wrong?!" He frantically asked.

"Nothing!" Stephanie called back to him while getting up from kneeling down at the ground and running towards them. "I had another vision!"

"What is it this time, Stephanie?!" Gordon angrily snapped, as large puffs of fumes came out of his chimney.

"It has to be Graie!" Stephanie remarked, getting into Thomas' cab hastily.

"Who's 'Graie?'" Thomas asked confusedly.

"Diesel 10!" Stephanie exclaimed. "He broke the gate down and went through along with Splatter, Dodge, another diesel, and an old man! I saw it in my vision!"

Gordon raised an eyebrow unimpressed, as the other steam trains looked confused.

"Oh, for the love of-" Stephanie groaned, before pointing. "LET'S GET A MOVE ON, AND GET THAT DIESEL NOW!"

Thomas felt startled from the yell Stephanie did, but went forward, zooming down along with the others.

1


	7. The Chase Is On!

Thomas and his friends zoomed down the railroad through the forest, trying to catch up to the diesels.

Stephanie claimed that she had seen them in her 'vision' after she touched that destroyed gate that was tossed to the side like garbage.

He was not too positive of himself if Stephanie was lying to them to speed things up, but Thomas trusts her as she trusts him back.

Stephanie was gripping the bottom of the window ledge, feeling her face getting cold from the night's wind passing by her face.

But, it did not matter to her now.

She wanted to chase after those troublesome diesels before things get out of hand.

When they were halfway far in the woods before Stephanie noticed that there were voices from the other side.

They sound almost like the diesels she encountered before when she first met Thomas' friends.

Thomas heard the voices too, and sped up, along with the trains behind his back.

When they were close to the diesels, they whistled their whistles, as Stephanie called out to them, loudly as she can while cupping a hand over her mouth, "Hey, you dunderheads!"

Diesel 10 glanced over to the corner of his eye after Stephanie called after them, noticing they were coming, so he sped up, along with his group.

"Faster, Thomas, faster!" James called, speeding up as fast as he could.

Thomas went faster than before, his wheels aching and almost out of breath, but he continued puffing forward to get after them.

Stephanie went back inside Thomas' cab to pick up Mittens from the ground from accidentally getting hurt from the chase.

Being quick as she can, she unzipped her sweater and gently, but cautiously, she placed Mittens inside before zipping back up hastily without catching on her fur.

She poked her head out from Thomas' window again and looked at the front, before glancing up at Diesel 10's pincher on top of him, snapping ferociously together.

A future vision appeared before her as her eye color changed into a sapphire color.

* * *

In the future vision, it showed Diesel 10's pincher uprooting a tree out from the ground, on the right-hand side of the railroad.

Once it was out of the ground, the pincher quickly tossed the tree on the tracks behind him and his group, blocking the way to get after them.

It caused the long line of steam trains screeching to a halt, allowing them to take the chance of running away.

They continued going down the railroad while cackling evilly, before entering a cave, disappearing out of sight.

* * *

Once the future vision disappeared after she blinked, her eye color changing back to steel-blue, Stephanie decided to make the most dangerous move ever in the steam trains', diesels' and the conductors' history.

To move to Thomas' front bumper to use her magic to make the fallen trees to move off the tracks from Diesel 10.

Being careful as she can, she slowly eased herself out of Thomas' cab and slid down the side of him.

Thomas did not notice what she was doing and was only focused on chasing the diesels.

She still had Mittens in her sweater as she had her right hand underneath her, as she was curled up into a small ball.

Mittens inside of her sweater was trembling from head to toe slightly from the slow and dangerous movements that Stephanie was doing as she eased herself along the side of Thomas.

When Thomas and the others made a tight turn, Stephanie used her fingers of her left hand to stick herself onto Thomas without falling off, gritting her teeth nervously.

After Thomas made that turn, Stephanie mentally sighed to herself, before continuing on her way, slowly and carefully easing herself towards his front bumper.

When she reached the front, she moved towards where Thomas cannot see her with his eyes and sat down, switching her hand from her left to her right.

Just like what she saw in her future vision, Diesel 10's pincer on top of him moved up on its own and reached towards the nearest tree on the right-hand side of the railroad, and grabbed it, ripping it from the ground as if it were a weed compared to him.

Once the tree was uprooted from the ground, Diesel 10's pincher tossed it onto the tracks behind, and right in front of the steam team!

"Cinders and ashes!" Thomas cried, about to hit the brakes with his eyes closed, when Stephanie used her magic to make it invisible, allowing the steam trains to go through it.

Thomas opened his eyes when he noticed they did not hit the tree, but instead went through it!

"H-How did that happen?!" Henry asked from behind.

"I don't know!" Thomas called, before continuing speeding up, not even noticing Stephanie was sitting there on his bumper. "But continue moving faster!"

They nodded and sped up, while Henry called over to the fallen over tree behind them, "Sorry, tree!"

Diesel 10 groaned in annoyance as he continued hearing the steam team's puffing noises from behind.

"Pinchy!" he commanded as it rose again on its own. "Get a bigger tree than that one!"

The pincer on top of him nodded its head in response to his command.

It grabbed a bigger tree than the last one on the right-hand side of the rails and uprooted it from the ground.

With a mighty throw, it tossed the uprooted tree towards the steam team, as it crashed on the rails in front of them.

It caused Thomas to panic a little, this time, he was about to hit the brakes again to stop the line from crashing into the tree, with his eyes open, when the same thing happened again.

The tree went invisible and allowed them to go through, making them look confused.

"It happened again!" Gordon exclaimed.

Thomas ignored what had happened and continued, catching up to the diesel group.

"Uh, Boss?" Splatter spoke, glancing over to the corner of his eye, noticing the group is getting closer to them. "They are catching up."

Diesel 10 growled in anger as they went out of the forest and into a rocky area, and glanced around, looking for something else to toss at them.

Then, he noticed rocks along the sides of the rails, in the same size of the tracks.

The rocks were also the same size as his pincher on top of him, too, so that he would not pick up a heavy one.

The pincher on top of him knew what he was thinking and quickly grabbed a large rock in time before it could miss one.

After the pincher grabbed a rock, it threw the large rock over their backs and heading towards the steam team.

Thomas yelped from the rock hurtling towards them and quickly switched tracks just in time before it hits them.

It smashed on the ground instead of the tracks into many pieces.

Another rock was tossed towards them again from Diesel 10, and without warning, it instead crashed nearly close to Thomas.

But bounced from the tracks and crashed close to Percy behind him.

It caused him to switch to a different track than the one Thomas is on.

The quick switch of the tracks caused the chain that connects them together to uncouple, and Thomas was slowing down a little.

Without the help of his friends that pushes him forward whenever he is tired out, he was slowing down and unable to catch up to them.

The pincher moved to the other side of the rails and grabbed another rock to toss at the steam team.

When it did, the pincher tossed it at one of the separated trains, crashing in front.

Luckily, Emily moved out of the way of it before it could damage her body.

The rock crashed to the ground again after the first hit and went into millions of pieces, luckily not hitting any of Thomas' friends or Stephanie.

Until Thomas' wheel crashed into a small piece of the rock, causing him to go off the rails a little!

"Cinders and ashes!" he exclaimed, as Stephanie quietly yelped to herself through her teeth, as her right hand clutched onto his metal body with her hands.

Before Thomas could be derailed from the rails, Edward crashed into his back, which caused him to go back onto the tracks after the bump.

"Thank you, Edward!" Thomas thanked as Edward puffed along behind him, gently pushing him forward to get after the diesels.

Edward gave a quick whistle of his whistle and continued moving forward, pushing a halfway tired Thomas forward.

The diesels zoomed towards a cave ahead from everyone else, as Diesel 10's pincher grabbed the last rock, which was smaller than the other stones.

The pincher tossed the last rock behind the group before moving back down onto Diesel 10's body.

Luckily, this rock missed everyone ahead and crashed into millions of pieces.

But, one of the pieces crashed into Thomas' wheel again, causing him to be almost derailed, and Edward panicked a little.

Thomas yelped as he was staggered almost off the rails, as he tried to get his balance back by shifting his weight to the other side.

But, the weight of his water, along with his coal, was making it difficult for him!

And Edward had no time to slow down to go into him again to help him get back onto the rails!

"Edward!" Thomas panicked.

Stephanie panicked too when she noticed that Thomas was having trouble getting back onto the tracks, as she was stuck to the side of him.

So, she wrapped her arms around Mittens against her stomach and bravely jumped to the side to help Thomas get his balance back, before landing onto Henry's front bumper on her back with a thud!

Henry did not notice Stephanie had jumped into him until he was also tripped over a piece of the rock, causing him to yelp and almost derailed!

But somehow luck was on his side, and only caused him to go onto a separate rail.

The other trains also tripped over the pieces of the rock and wobbled a little, but did not fall off the tracks.

Once they were on different rails than the ones that they were on, their chains coupled again after they bumped into each other.

Gordon and Braedey were on the rails that the diesels went on, heading towards the entrance of the cave.

Nia, Emily, and Rebecca are on the other rail of the left, as Thomas and Edward were on the second rail on the left.

Luckily, none of them go over more of the rocks as they zoomed after the diesels into the caves.

Thomas and Edward went into a separate cave than Braedey and Gordon, as Henry with Stephanie on his front bumper went into the other.

Nia, Emily, and Rebecca went into the third cave, as Gordon and Braedey went into the fourth cave where the diesels went through.

Percy and James went into the fifth cave, as Percy was pushing James into it as fast as he could, while James was yelping in fear.

Meanwhile, with Gordon and Braedey, they both zoomed towards them, as they giggled, their echoes bouncing through the walls of the caves.

"Stop right now, Diesel!" bellowed Gordon.

"Stop us if you can!" Diesel 10 called over to the two trains behind him, smirking evilly.

"We shall see about that!" Braedey snapped, before speeding up more.

Mentally, he thought that his safety valve was going to pop at any moment as he sped through the cave.

They laughed again as they went deeper and deeper into the caves, as the moonlight on the cave's entrance disappeared, sealing them into darkness.

But Gordon and Breadey were brave as they went towards them, as they turned their lights on to see where they are going.

Suddenly, as they turned the corner, they disappeared from thin air, as they were heading towards a sudden dip on the rails.

"Holy-!" Gordon exclaimed, before hitting the brakes.

He screeched to a halt as soon as his front wheels almost went over the edge.

After he screeched to a halt, he sighed in relief that he had stopped in time, until Breadey tried doing the same thing, except his brakes were a little too late, and collided into Gordon's back bumper roughly.

During that time, their coupling chain connected to each other, which caused Breadey to be pulled along with Gordon.

It caused them to go forward again as Gordon was the first one to go over the dip, and down a long steep hill, screaming along the way.

With the girls, they immediately hit the brakes after they were separated, screeching to a halt.

After they stopped, they all sighed in relief.

Suddenly, something rustled from above their heads.

Slowly, they looked up at the ceiling after they had clicked their lights on, seeing small white glowing eyes staring down at them.

Suddenly, a wave of bats flew at them, blocking their sight and hovering in front of their faces while screeching.

They screamed in fear from the bats suddenly flying towards them and quickly moved forward to get away from the swarm.

Suddenly, something bumped into them from behind and coupled along with them, causing them to move faster.

Thomas and Edward were in the other cave, looking a little startled and out of breath.

Thomas was glad that he was still on the rails instead of teetering on and off.

He sighed in relief as a large puff of steam came out from his chimney.

"That was close." Edward sighed.

"Too close." Thomas agreed. "What do you think, Stephanie?"

Nothing responded to his question after he had asked.

Confused, Thomas asked, glancing over to the side, "Stephanie? Are you okay?"

Still, no response from Stephanie.

Edward clicked his light on to look at Thomas' cab for Stephanie, seeing that there was no one inside.

"I don't see Stephanie or Mittens inside your cab, Thomas." Edward worriedly spoke.

Worried, Thomas glanced around for Stephanie if she had accidentally fallen out of him until he noticed something on his front bumper from the corner of his eye.

There was something small and blue on his front bumper attached to his metal.

Turning on his light, he noticed it was a piece of fabric from Stephanie's shirt underneath her sweater, that belongs to her sleeve.

"Oh, no." Thomas cringed in worry.

"What's wrong, Thomas?" Edward asked from behind him.

"I think I know what happened to Stephanie!" he called back to Edward.

"What happened?" Edward asked.

"She must've accidentally fallen off from me when I was almost off the rails!" Thomas called to him. "There's a piece of fabric on my front bumper when she tried grabbing me, but fell off and must have been left behind when we were chasing Diesel!"

"Well, let's try going back to find her!" Edward suggested.

"Wait!" Thomas spoke, catching Edward's attention before he moved backward. "What if she knows the way around where we are inside? She can scan the whole place like how she did before in the forest!"

"How?" Edward asked, sounding confused.

"Her left eye!" Thomas grinned. "It's made out of metal! I bet you that she can find us in no time if we get a move on!"

Thomas moved forward to get out of the cave before noticing something.

He did not feel any weight behind him like he did when he was tugging his friends along with him.

"What happened?" Thomas asked, backing up a little.

"The chain that connects us is off," Edward responded, looking down at his chain. "I think we have to move without it chained."

Thomas paused for a moment before nodding.

"Alright, let's find everyone else!" Thomas nodded.

Edward nodded and followed after Thomas, glancing around at his surroundings.

They all hope that Stephanie is safe either by herself or with someone else or a train they could trust.

1


	8. Separation

Henry stopped after being really deep in the cave, panting slightly as a large puff of steam came out of his chimney.

His wheels ache a little, and he was out of breath.

"Oh, dear." he shakily sighed in relief. "That was close."

"Too close." someone responded, causing him to flinch from the sound and glancing around for the source. "Uh, down here, Henry."

Henry glanced down at his front buffer at the command of the voice.

He noticed a large form was laying on his front buffer.

And it was in the shape of a human being.

Clicking his light on, he noticed it was Stephanie, wincing slightly as her hand was holding her stomach, slowly getting up from laying on her back against his buffer.

"Stephanie?!" he exclaimed in shock. "How did you get from Thomas to me?!"

"I jumped." Stephanie honestly responded. "I was on Thomas' front buffer to get a better view of what's going on on the railroad instead of being inside of Thomas' cab."

Henry's jaw dropped, and his eyes were wide as saucers after Stephanie honestly explained to him.

"And I noticed my weight was making him off balance, so I jumped onto you to keep Thomas safe without crashing into anyone else or the objects that Diesel 10 was throwing with that pincher of his." Stephanie finished before wincing.

She stopped from sitting up from laying on her back on Henry's front buffer, wincing slightly in pain.

"What's wrong?" Henry worriedly asked, before noticing something moving in her 'stomach,' as he yelped. "What's moving in your stomach?!"

Stephanie glanced down at her stomach, noticing what he meant.

At first, Henry thought she was going to panic from the strange movements that are going on, but instead, she chuckled.

"It's not a Xenomorph." She chuckled, unzipping her sweater and showing Mittens on her belly, shaking and her claws out into her shirt. "It's just Mittens."

Mittens' fur was all puffed up in fear from the sudden movements that the trains were making while on the ride and fearfully mewed.

Mentally, Henry felt sorry about the little kitten about being scared of the ride.

Mittens tried to move out of Stephanie's sweater when Stephanie winced as each of the stuck paws moved up from her stomach.

"Ow, ow, ow, Mittens!" Stephanie winced, hissing through her teeth for a short time, revealing her sharp canines. "Your claws are in my skin through the shirt!"

Henry had noticed her canines before they were covered by her lips, gently lifting Mittens from being on her, the claws attached to her shirt, as it lifted slightly.

Not only the canines for a brief moment, but he also noticed some scars covering her belly!

Henry was surprised at how deep some scars were, but some of them looked thin and improperly healed.

There were also some bullet hole scars, but none of them seemed properly mended from the injuries.

His concern was growing inside his boiler as it bubbled slightly.

Luckily, Stephanie was distracted by getting the claws out of her shirt than looking at Henry.

Henry wanted to ask her about the scars that she has, but he does not want to make her feel uncomfortable, so he instead stayed silent.

When Stephanie removed the last claw out of her shirt, she gently placed Mittens onto her lap and zipped her sweater up.

Once her sweater was zipped up, Stephanie picked Mittens back up from her lap and gently hugged her, petting the top of her head with her hand.

"Shh, it's okay." Stephanie soothingly spoke, calming down the scared kitten as the trembling started to soothe away. "I didn't mean to do that to you. We were on a chase."

Then, she lifted the kitten up to her face, smiling softly.

"Can you forgive Henry and me, Mittens?" she asked apologetically.

Mittens mewed softly and gently bumped her head against Stephanie's forehead, purring softly as Stephanie softly chuckled.

"I suppose that is a yes?" She asked.

Then, Stephanie placed Mittens down on the ground as she walked over to Henry.

Henry nervously watched Mittens climbed onto his front buffer, before up to the side of his face.

He did not move as Mittens gently purred and rubbed against his cheek as if she forgave him for scaring her.

Henry smiled a little as Mitten gently licked his cheek with her tongue, which felt a little scratchy, but not too much.

Stephanie chuckled softly and clicked her tongue twice, gently commanding Mittens to come to her.

Mitten had obeyed her command and walked back down to her before Stephanie gently picked her up from Henry's buffer.

But, during that time, she noticed something from the right sleeve of her shirt from underneath her sweater.

Holding Mittens with her arm, she moved her sleeve down carefully, noticing a part of her shirt sleeve was ripped.

'Looks like I must have ripped it from being attached to that object on Thomas.' she thought to herself, before pushing her sleeve down. 'But, I hope he's okay along with the others…'

Henry still looked a little worried, but Stephanie shook her head and glanced back up at him.

"We have to keep moving," Stephanie spoke. "We need to find Thomas and others. The desiels and Graie are not too far up ahead."

"B-B-But," Henry stuttered, frantically glancing around, and slowly backing up. "H-How are we going to get out of here? I don't know which way to go, and you don't have a map with you!"

He whined at the end, glancing around frantically with his eyes.

Stephanie sighed and gently placed Mittens into her large sweater pocket on her hip.

After she placed Mittens inside, she said, "Henry, look at me."

Henry looked at her, and she could notice he was trembling like a leaf.

"All eyes on me," Stephanie spoke, as Henry nodded his head. "It's all right. I can try getting us out of here before the worst happens. Trust me on this."

"H-How can I trust you?" Henry spoke, before yelping when a rock landed on his side before bouncing off.

"I am half cyborg," Stephanie responded calmly, assuring him as she walked close to him, without showing signs that she is annoyed or starting to lose her patience with him. "I can scan through anything around me. My left eye allows me to do that, and I could map us the way out of this place. That's the reason how I got us out of that forest and did not get a map on purpose. Although that was part of an accident too."

Henry was slowly calming down as Stephanie continued assuring him, moving forward slowly without accidentally bumping into her.

"So…, you know the way through the mines?" Henry slowly asked.

"Yes," Stephanie nodded her head, placing a hand on his buffer reassuringly. "But I first need to scan to see which way. So, wait patiently, okay?"

Henry paused for a moment, before nodding his head, although feeling worried about what she is going to do.

After Stephanie had received the permission, she removed her hand from Henry's buffer and turned around, noticing that the path through the other side was semi-dark, unlike the other half lit up from Henry's light.

She blinked her eyes, and her left eye started glowing a light blue color.

In her vision, the whole cave they were inside was covered with grids, before showing how deep and wide it was.

Using her technology from inside her mind, she zoomed out for a moment, before seeing 5 dots moving at a fast rate from the left-hand side of the map of the cave.

It was the diesels that are heading further and further away from where everyone else is.

Instead of marking where they are heading for, Stephanie focused on getting out of the caves before they would.

She moved the map around for a moment to look for any exits, but could not find anyone of them.

The exits are either blocked by rocks, stalagmites, or too dangerous for the trains.

So, Stephanie commanded to move around a little to see which way leads the other way out.

But, during that time, she noticed that there were more trains inside than Henry and Stephanie.

It was the others!

Edward and Thomas were in the far back from where they were deep within the caves.

They were heading towards the area filled with stalagmites.

Gordon and Braedey were at the far front, going through loops and turns of the minecarts that used to go through.

Nia, Rebecca, and Emily were on a separate side of the caves, going at a fast pace while there was Lady along with 2 more female trains behind them to Stephanie's slight surprise.

Percy and James were all alone on their side of the caves, heading through a waterfall and ponds.

'Well, at least they are on the bright side…' Stephanie thought to herself, smiling gently to herself.

She continued tagging where the others are at, and herself along with Henry.

Stephanie even tagged where the diesels are so they would go after them once finding each other.

Stephanie dotted where they need to go and wonder to herself about the others, feeling worried if they were not able to go out of the caves on time.

So, she decided to let fate decide for them.

After marking which way to go and which steam train and diesel is there, Stephanie blinked her eyes, and her vision was back to normal, as her left eye's glowing stopped.

Stephanie turned back to Henry as he looked confused and worried at the same time.

"Alright," Stephanie spoke, pushing her sleeve up from her right arm.

When she pushed her sleeve up, Henry was mildly surprised that it is entirely made of metal from underneath.

"I got the map down." She explained. "All I need to do is to show you where we are going, okay?"

Henry nodded his head anxiously, and Stephanie gently swiped two of her fingers of her left hand across her forearm, as a panel on her arm glowed, as holograms appeared before her.

Henry was surprised as his jaw dropped again, his eyes wide with wonder as Stephanie did her magic, tapping some buttons and swiping a few times across the screen.

Then, she found something on her screen, tapping it as a map appeared in front of them, as there were tags of the same paint Henry noticed.

Stephanie pointed to where a blue tag with the number '1' and another blue card with a number '2.'

"This is where Thomas and Edward are." Stephanie directed, before moving her finger over to two more tags.

The first tag is in a red color and has the number '5' on it.

The second tag is in an apple-green color with red stripes and has the number '6' on it.

"That's also where James and Percy are too." she pointed before moving over to where the last six trains are.

The first tag was a light yellow color, and has the number '18' is on it.

The second tag is in an emerald-green color and does not have a number on it.

The third tag is in a yellow color, and has the number '22' is on it.

The fourth tag was in a red-violet color, and that also does not have a number.

The fifth tag was in a dark raspberry color with the number "37" on it.

The sixth tag is in a dark royal blue color and decorated with beautiful Indian mandalas and also does not have a number on it like the other two.

"And these four are Nia, Emily, Rebecca, and Lady." She finished before looking slightly confused. "Although, I wonder who are the other two trains behind them."

"'Lady?'" Henry questioned after Stephanie mentioned her. "What is she doing here?"

Stephanie shrugged her shoulders at Henry's response.

"Maybe we could ask her about that after we find her." she shrugged before noticing some other tags at the farthest back, some of them were gray and only one of them in a light copper color. "And these are the troublesome diesels."

Henry sighed after Stephanie pointed at the tags.

"Of course." he sighed. "They're always ahead of us."

Stephanie gently smiled and moved her hand down from the hologram map.

"Not yet," she assured him. "We'll get to them later. All we need to do is to keep going to find the others, and then we could go after them."

She pointed at where they were, as her tag has a symbol, which was a rose with the color blue.

His tag is in an apple-green color with red stripes like Percy's tag and has his signature number '3.'

"That's where we are," she spoke, moving her hand back from pointing. "But, I did plan where we could go, but I have other problems with that."

"What's wrong?" Henry asked worriedly.

"I can see in the future," Stephanie responded, gently tapping her fingers against her forehead. "It's an ability which is called 'future vision.' And if you are wondering what it is, it's where I can see what happens in the future. I rely on my probabilities on what's going to happen next."

Henry looked surprised and thoughtful about her vision.

Before he could ask, Stephanie responded, reading what he was about to say more about her vision, "There's more to that too, Henry. It also allows me to see what is going to happen next for attacks, too, like those trees you saw earlier."

"That was from you?!" Henry exclaimed, his eyes widen.

Stephanie nodded her head in response to Henry's question about what he had witnessed.

"Yep," she nodded her head, sighing to herself. "That was from me. And when we reach here," she pointed at a bridge over a waterfall forked into two directions. "We'll stop and see which way to go next, okay?"

Henry nodded his head, and Stephanie used her powers to make the map disappear into thin air, before moving her sleeve back down over her right arm.

"Alright!" she smiled, clapping her hands together. "That settles it! Let's get a wiggle on!"

She stepped into Henry's cab with Mittens still in her sweater pocket, and poked her head out of his window, patting his side gently.

Henry started moving and went further into the dark and rocky caves.

Mentally, he was not too positive about himself to trust Stephanie about this.

But, with Stephanie by his side, he was semi-willing to continue on the adventure, heading deeper into the unknown.

1


	9. Caves, Gems, And Gates

Henry continued down the semi-dark cave hallway, glancing around nervously.

His light was shining as bright as it could be, leading the way down through the cave for him to see.

Stephanie was looking out the window of his cab, glancing around for any signs of danger or another pathway.

She had the sleeve of her right arm rolled up to her elbow, as the map was on the screen.

On the screen had the two tags of Stephanie and Henry, moving along through the map as if it was a GPS for them.

After a while of moving, Stephanie glanced over at her arm, watching as they turned a corner.

"Keep going, Henry." Stephanie softly spoke, gently assuring Henry. "We're almost there to the fork."

Henry nodded and continued puffing on, as Stephanie inside his cab is still looking at her arm, watching the map.

Mittens fell asleep in her large sweater pocket that she had placed inside earlier, purring softly.

As soon as they reached the fork, Henry stopped as Stephanie perked a little.

She stepped out of Henry's cab and walked over to the fork.

"Which way?" Henry asked, sounding worried.

Stephanie tapped the screen of her right arm, as the diagram of the fork appeared before calculating which route to go to.

After the calculation was done, she turned her screen off, pushed her sleeve down, and turned back towards Henry.

"We go to the left," Stephanie responded. "The right leads to a lava pit that could melt your wheels from the intense heat if we cross over the top to the other side."

Henry nodded and waited patiently for Stephanie to climb into his cab, poking her head out the window again to watch the scenery.

After she had climbed inside, Henry turned to the left and went down an intensely dark cave, which made him feel nervous.

But, he had Stephanie with him, so he continued puffing on his way.

When they reached a part of the cave that had a small hole at the top, they noticed that the area of the way was over a deep hole.

And, the bridge was old and rickety.

"Oh, no." Henry panicked, starting to slowly backed away from the drop and the rails. "I-I can't cross that! Oh, dear."

Stephanie reached over and gently tapped his side, snapping him out of his worry.

"Don't worry, Henry," she assured him. "I have faith in you. We can cross that."

"Are you sure about that, Stephanie?" he nervously asked.

"Of course!" Stephanie smiled. "You trusted in me with knowing the way out of this place, right?"

Henry stayed silent when she reminded him of the trust he gave to her by knowing the way.

He glanced away for a moment, before back at her from the corner of his eye.

"Alright," he spoke, slowly moving forward. "I'll try."

Stephanie nodded her head and went back inside to be safe.

Wheel by wheel, Henry slowly eased himself onto the bridge, as it gently creaked from underneath his weight.

He wanted to stop, but it would make matters worse, and he would fall inside the dark, deep hole along with Stephanie and Mittens that are inside his cab.

So, he continued moving forward, focusing on moving forward than looking down.

The bridge underneath his weight creaked and groaned, and gently swayed from side to side.

It made him want to stiffen up from the gentle movements it was making but kept moving forward.

When he reached the other side of the rails, he sighed in relief when he got onto solid ground, continuing his way.

"You did it!" Stephanie smiled before hugging the corner of the window as if she is hugging him. "I'm so proud of you, Henry!"

Henry's cheeks blushed a little from Stephanie's proud for him, chuckling softly.

"Th-Thank you, Stephanie." he stammered, glancing away from her.

Stephanie gave him a big grin on her face with her lips, revealing dimples from the corners of her cheeks.

Henry also smiled back at Stephanie as she chuckled.

Soon, they turned the corners, went down small drops, and went around loops.

Henry thought this was going to be a long ride since how dark and deep the caves were.

But, he has never been here before.

Sir Topham Hatt never talked about the caves either to make things more mysterious.

"Stephanie," he spoke, breaking the ice between the two of them. "Have you read books about these caves?"

Stephanie opened her mouth to respond, before closing her mouth, thinking to herself about Henry's question.

She remembered being in the library and flipping through books, but she did come across a book about caves and went through it.

Stephanie perked when she remembered that book she read through before placing it away.

"Yeah, I did!" Stephanie smiled. "I think the names of the caves were in the Indian's times were called 'The Glowing Shelters' in their language, but the people named them 'The Light Cavern.'"

"Really?" Henry questioned, sounding curious. "Why did they name that?"

Stephanie thought to herself again in thought, remembering what the story in the book said.

"The legend in the book tells that 'if you turn off your lamp or light, there might be invisible crystals that glow in the dark for you to see.'" Stephanie explained. "But, I don't see any crystals now."

Henry thought to himself as he turned the corner, as Stephanie thought about the legend she said.

"Do you believe in it?" Stephanie curiously asked.

"Of course!" Henry exclaimed. "But, I had never heard of 'invisible crystals' before."

Stephanie paused for a moment before gently patting his side.

"Let's see if the legend of the 'glowing crystals' is real," Stephanie smiled. "But, if the gems do not glow, we can turn your light back on."

Henry nodded his head and turned his light off as they were sealed into the darkness.

They waited for a few minutes until Stephanie noticed something from the distance to the right of the fork.

"Henry," she spoke, catching Henry's attention. "Look to the right. Do you see that?"

Henry glanced over to what Stephanie was saying, seeing what she is seeing.

Down the right tunnel was a wall covered in glowing crystals!

They appeared out of thin air from the walls, the ceiling, and the ground, except the rails.

"Th-The legend is true!" Henry gasped.

Stephanie nodded her head, and Henry moved forward, heading towards that tunnel.

She looked slightly startled when Henry went down the tunnel without warning her.

But, she shrugged it off her shoulders and poked out Henry's window more.

There were green, blue, yellow, violet, red, orange, and many colors of crystals around them, glowing like glow sticks.

Some of the crystals have other mixes of different colors or have plain white.

"This is amazing!" Stephanie responded, moving up to the tips of her toes to look up at the ceiling. "It looks like we are underneath a bridge decorated with Christmas lights."

Henry chuckled and continued moving down the tunnel, his worries and fears disappeared.

Stephanie got curious about the crystals, so, she asked, "Henry, let's stop here. I want to see one of them up close."

So, Henry stopped from her command, and Stephanie took Mittens out from inside her pocket and placed her down on the ground, telling her to stay put.

When Mittens sat down in response to her command, she got out of Henry's cab, landing feet first on the ground.

She walked over to the nearest crystal on the wall, staring at it for a moment in thought.

Lifting a hand, she was about to touch it when Henry spoke, "I don't think you should touch those, Stephanie."

She glanced over at Henry, and curiously asked, "Why?"

"Because you could nick your hand or maybe get cursed!" Henry worried.

Stephanie rolled her eyes and gently gripped the crystal in her hands, despite Henry's warnings.

"Don't be a worry wall, Henry." she lightly scoffed as Henry winced slightly. "Nothing's going to happen to me. Look."

With surprising strength, she yanked the piece of crystal out from the wall, as if it was a piece of tape.

Henry looked surprised by the strength she has before watching her walk up to him.

"See?" she spoke, gently patting the side of the crystal with her finger. "Nothing's happening. But, it is a pretty blue Zircon, though."

"A 'Zircon?'" Henry questioned in confusion.

"Zircons are a type of gemstone, Henry," Stephanie explained, chuckling softly. "It's this crystal in my hands."

"Oh!" Henry recognized, before glancing over at a light blue crystal. "What's that one on the right side?"

Stephanie glanced over at what he was looking at, noticing the blue crystal Henry is mentioning.

"That's a Chalcedony!" Stephanie exclaimed, walking over to the piece of crystal. "And, it looks pretty real too!"

She reached over for it with her other hand, and just like the crystal she had pulled out earlier, Stephanie yanked it out of the earth in her hand, like it was a piece of tape.

"Uh, Stephanie," Henry spoke, as Stephanie responded with a "Hmm?" while yanking out another crystal, except in a green color. "How are you able to yank those crystals out? It's a lot of work to get them out. You also need a pickax to get them out too."

Stephanie glanced down at the three crystals in her hands, before back up at Henry.

"Oh," she repositioned herself, placing the crystals into her pockets. "I used to pull weeds back at my home before meeting you, Henry. Since I can yank them out like tape, I could now yank these out!"

She smiled cheekily towards Henry, which reminded him of Thomas.

Henry smiled a little towards her before she went back to yanking crystals out, this time, grabbing an orange gemstone that was poking out of the ground beside the rails.

"What's that gemstone in your hand?" Henry asked, deciding to kill some time since it is going to take a long time.

"This is a Jasper." Stephanie smiled, yanking it out and showing it to Henry. "Beautiful, aren't they?"

Henry nodded his head and slowly rode down the cave along Stephanie's side.

Stephanie kept yanking out some crystals from the walls during the walk down the cave.

Some gemstones are much bigger than the others she had yanked out before.

Each time Stephanie yanks a gem out, she would tell Henry what they are and tell him which one is different from the others.

When they turned the corner, Stephanie's pockets were stuffed with different types of crystals, each one glowing in different radiant colors that looked like the rainbow.

Henry chuckled when he noticed that when he got close to her side.

"You know," he chuckled. "You look like a walking rainbow to me with all of those crystals in your pockets."

Stephanie paused for a moment before chuckling along with him.

"Yeah, except I am pansexual instead!" Stephanie chuckled.

He stopped chuckling and moving when she responded to him that.

"'Pansexual?'" Henry questioned in confusion.

"Pansexual means that you like anybody." Stephanie smiled. "Despite what gender, skin color, or whatever they are! I love the people I met during my adventures! "

Henry felt more curious about her.

"Do you... like us, Stephanie?" he slowly asked.

Stephanie paused for a moment, before responding, smiling, "Yes! You all are human beings too! You all have feelings, wills, even others that we don't! You are not just a train, but you are a helpful and generous train! I do like you, Henry!"

Henry's cheeks flustered deeply as a stream of steam went into the cave, creating mist around Stephanie.

Stephanie waved her hands around in front of her face to see.

She walked around the corner of the cave to get out of the mist.

"Henry!" she chuckled, glancing back over to him from over her shoulder. "Please ease up on the steam, or you're going to fog up my glasses!"

"Oops," Henry spoke from the background, sounding sheepish. "Sorry."

"It's okay." Stephanie chuckled, stepping out of the mist, her glasses fogged up. "It's not on purpose. You were flustered."

Henry slowly came out from the other side of the cave, blushing as small puffs of steam came out of his chimney.

Stephanie chuckled, before glancing in front, looking surprised.

"Ho lee chit!" She exclaimed, startling Henry, as his blush disappeared.

"What's wrong?" Henry asked, moving forward a little.

"Now, that's a huge crystal!" Stephanie remarked as he glanced up to what she is seeing.

He was surprised to see what there was a crystal blocking the other side.

And looked almost like a gate for some odd reason.

1


	10. The Second Clue

Stephanie and Henry were standing in the cave, looking surprised and curious at what they discovered.

In front of where they are standing, was a large blue gemstone, blocking the way to the other side.

The large gemstone looked almost like a gate, too.

It was carved with ancient Japanese carvings on it and a keyhole in the middle of the gate.

Stephanie felt curious about the keyhole, so she reached into her pockets filled with the crystals, rummaging past them and looking for something.

Henry watched her rummaging through her sweater pockets for a moment, before pulling out the key that she had found before in that Japanese puzzle box.

When she pulled out the key, she walked over to the gate, as the crystals in her pockets gently clinked together, making a wind charm noise.

Those noises perked Henry a little but calmed him down from his anxiety.

When Stephanie got over to the gate, she looked at the key in her hand for a moment, before looking back at the keyhole.

So, she carefully placed the key inside and turned it as a click came from the lock.

After a click came from the keyhole, Stephanie was about to pull the key away when it disappeared.

Stephanie looked slightly surprised that it had vanished from thin air, but shrugged her shoulders slightly to herself.

It seemed like she was not too surprised that the key just disappeared.

Stephanie placed a hand on the side of the gate and gently pushed it open halfway.

She stopped and removed her hand, turning towards Henry, who looked really worried about what she is going to do.

"What are you going to do?" Henry asked.

"I'm checking if there's something or someone on the other side of this gate," Stephanie calmly responded. "Just in case if something attacks us, Henry."

"I'll just stay in the back to be safe, Stephanie," he spoke, continuing to move backward.

After Henry backed up at a safe distance, Stephanie turned her attention back around to the open gate, sighing gently.

She carefully poked her head through the half-open gate, looking over at the other side.

It was dark on the other side of the tunnel, but Stephanie's eyesight could change into night vision by will.

On the other side, she could see another way through the cave, except heading deeper down and looked really steep.

Henry nervously chewed his lip as he watched Stephanie looked around, before taking a careful step inside.

"Is it okay?" Henry asked, sounding worried.

Stephanie did not answer for a moment, before glancing back at him, responding, "It's fine! I don't see anything on the other side! So, I think it's safe, but go slow."

Henry sighed and moved back towards Stephanie as she fully opened the gates for Henry to go through.

"Thank you." he thanked as she stepped into his cab, picking Mittens up from the ground.

"You're welcome." Stephanie smiled.

So, Henry continued down the cave slowly until they exited out of the glowing cave, going into darkness.

Henry turned his light on after going through the tunnel that is filled with crystals, continuing on his way.

But the inside of his cab was still glowing from the crystal collection Stephanie has inside her pockets.

Stephanie noticed that it was glowing from her sweater pockets and started giggling quietly to herself.

It seems to be entertaining to see how it glows.

So, during that time in Henry's cab, Stephanie took out one crystal by crystal, looking at it in her hand and thinking to herself.

She was sitting down in the center of the cab, looking at the crystals in her hands.

Stephanie kept pulling the crystals out of her pockets into her hands, looking at them each time.

Mittens laid down in her lap, purring softly and taking a nap while curled up in a small ball.

Stephanie did not mind it and continued looking at each crystal she takes out of her pockets.

Until Henry stopped, snapping her out of her inspection of the crystals.

"What's wrong, Henry?" she asked, glancing up.

"There's… something on the side of the wall." Henry responded.

Confused, Stephanie placed the crystal that was in her hand back into her pocket and gently picked Mittens up from her lap, carefully without waking her up on accident.

She placed her down on the ground before coming out of Henry's cab.

"What is it?" Stephanie curiously asked, before noticing what he meant.

There was handwriting written on the side of the cave was in ancient Japanese letters.

"Is that Japanese?" Stephanie curiously spoke, walking over to the writings. "Looks old, too, 80 years ago."

"Who could've written that 80 years ago?" Henry asked.

"A lost Japanese person, perhaps?" Stephanie shrugged, before placing her left hand on one of the letters.

After she had placed her hand on the letter, a vision came to her, entering her mind freely.

Henry panicked a little when Stephanie went silent, wondering what is going on with her.

Then, out of the blue, Stephanie's eyes turned white, along with her long brown hair from the roots to the tips.

He does not know if that is normal, but he is worried about Stephanie.

* * *

In Stephanie's vision, she could see the same conductor wearing that brown uniform and holding a sharp knife in his hand.

He walked over to the same wall that Stephanie and Henry found, and started carving out some Japanese handwriting on the wall.

It reads, "太陽が地平線に沈むと、昼と夜の両方で新しい時代が始まります。 夕日に触れる山は空に届き、上の天国に祝福され、創造の助けを借りて島に魔法をもたらします。"

After he finished carving that out on the wall, he walked away, as a train was waiting for him.

He entered the cab, and the train drove away, leaving the cave with the writing on the wall untouched.

* * *

Stephanie blinked her eyes after the vision disappeared, moving her hand away.

"I knew it!" Stephanie sighed, talking to herself. "There was a train!"

"What?" Henry asked as she turned towards him. "What happened? I-I saw your eyes and hair turned white!"

He looked confused and worried about her, as a mid-speed puffs came out of his chimney.

Stephanie blinked a few times before asking, "Excuse me?"

"Your eyes and hair turned white!" Henry exclaimed worriedly, repeating what he said earlier. "I-Is that normal?!"

Stephanie paused for a moment, reaching up to her hair, as it slowly turned back to normal along with her eye color.

Then, she recognized what he meant and started chuckling softly.

"Yes, it's normal," she reassured the worried train. "For me, that is. When my hair and eyes turned white, that either means that I am drifting off, or seeing a vision."

Henry looked curious than scared, calming down slightly.

"What did you see?" he slowly asked.

Stephanie glanced back at the faint writing on the wall, before saying, "One minute. Let me get all of this dust off from it, first."

Henry nodded his head, and Stephanie used her sleeves to get the dust off.

When the last of the dust came off with one puff of her breath, Stephanie moved to the side, revealing Henry the Japanese writing on the wall.

"Taiyō ga chiheisen ni shizumu to, hiru to yoru no ryōhō de atarashī jidai ga hajimarimasu. Yūhi ni fureru yama wa sora ni todoki,-jō no tengoku ni shukufuku sa re, sōzō no tasuke o karite shima ni mahō o motarashimasu." Stephanie spoke, speaking in the language written on the wall.

Henry blinked in confusion from what Stephanie said, raising an eyebrow.

"Oh, oops," Stephanie chuckled, blushing slightly, before clearing her throat and repeated what she said again. "It reads in Japanese, 'A new era begins on both day and night, as the sun sets over the horizon. A mountain that touches the setting sun can reach into the sky and be blessed by the heaven above, bringing the magic to the island with the help of the creation.'"

Henry realized what she was saying now since she repeated herself of what she said before looking confused about the riddle.

"What does it mean?" Henry asked, mostly to himself and Stephanie.

Stephanie paused for a moment, thinking to herself about the riddle.

"I don't know." Stephanie sighed, shrugging her shoulders. "But it is a unique riddle. 'A new era begins on both day and night, as the sun sets over the horizon. A mountain that touches the setting sun can reach into the sky and be blessed by the heaven above, bringing the magic to the island with the help of the creation.'"

Henry thought to himself for a moment, mumbling something to himself as Stephanie went back to thinking to herself too.

She placed a hand underneath her chin while gently tapping her foot against the ground.

"'Stoke up the magic in the mountain, and the lady will smile.'" Henry mumbled to himself. "'Then watch the swirls that spin so well.'"

Stephanie perked when Henry mumbled that to himself loudly, slowly removing her hand from her chin and stopped tapping against the ground.

"What was that, Henry?" Stephanie asked, turning back towards him as he glanced back over to her. "Say that again to me one more time. Louder."

Henry paused for a moment before repeating what he was mumbling to himself, "'Stoke up the magic in the mountain, and the lady will smile. Then watch the swirls that spin so well.'"

Stephanie thought about the riddle Henry said as she glanced to the side.

She also compared the second riddle to the first one.

"Wait a moment," Stephanie spoke, glancing back at Henry. "Did you say, 'And the lady will smile?'"

Henry nodded his head as Stephanie went back to thinking to herself.

Then, she compared the two slowly to herself, realizing what it was.

"It's Lady!" Stephanie beamed, looking a little excited.

Henry glanced back over to Stephanie after the solved half of the riddle.

"What about Lady?" Henry asked, sounding confused.

"She is the part of the riddles!" Stephanie exclaimed. "Lady is a magic maker and a creation of magic! Remember when Sir Topham Hatt was talking about her a little before me, and Thomas left?"

Henry nodded, slowly understanding her, although having troubles with her since she is talking fast.

"The mountain that makes it must've been that mountain the legend said about!" Stephanie exclaimed.

"Really?!" Henry looked surprised from half of the answer Stephanie answered.

Stephanie nodded her head excitedly, as her foot tapped the ground slightly in thought.

"Since Lady creates magic by using the coal at the mountain, and the mountain must've been the one that touches the sky and blessed by the heavens to make the magic we need! " Stephanie exclaimed, looking a little excited by the minute. "That's what's wrong! The people might have been digging the wrong mountain, thinking that will help it since the last adventure Thomas was on!"

Henry slightly smiled as he noticed the roots of her hair on top of her head was slowly turning yellow.

Since when was yellow a color for Stephanie's hair to turn into?

Then, her excitement died down immediately, her hair instantly turning back to normal, as her smile disappeared from her face in an instant.

"Ho lee chit!" She exclaimed, placing her hands on the sides of her head and jumping an inch from the ground. "We need to get Lady to help us before she or her friends that are with her get into trouble!"

"What will happen?" Henry asked.

"Diesel 10 and his friends might attack her without us noticing!" Stephanie exclaimed in a panic.

Henry gasped in slight shock, before moving forward to Stephanie's side.

"Then we have to hurry before she gets into more trouble!" Henry nodded.

Stephanie quickly climbed into his cab, tripping a bit from the steps before scrambling inside.

"Alright," Stephanie picked Mittens up from the ground at a quick pace, before poking her head out of the window. "Let's get going!"

Henry nodded his head and kept moving forward, going deeper and deeper into the cave.

1


	11. The Miner of The Caves

Stephanie continued directing which way to go, as Henry listened to her, following her directions.

Mentally, he felt like he is lost in these caves he entered after being separated from his friends.

But, Stephanie kept reassuring him that he will see his friends sooner or later when they are out of the caves.

As Henry turned the corner, Stephanie noticed something was blocking the way through again.

"What's that?" Stephanie mumbled to herself gently. "Is it another gate?"

Henry shrugged to himself mentally and slowly came up to the gate that is blocking the way through.

When he was close enough, Henry notices some faded letters on the front of the gate said, "Sodor Mine."

"Was this is a mining place?" Stephanie spoke, looking more curious.

Henry stayed quiet as he thought about the gate, until someone or something unlocked it, allowing Henry and Stephanie inside the deserted mine.

He was a little startled when he noticed that nobody was behind until a ghost appeared in front of the train.

Immediately, he went stiff as Stephanie watched from leaning over the side.

The ghost was semi-invisible and was wearing a pair of miner's clothing from the 19th century.

He has short, dirty jet-black hair, and had a beard coming in, and light pale skin color, with dark hazelnut eye color.

The ghost also has a slim body structure and carries a pick over his right shoulder.

His head is covered with a miner's helmet.

"_Ah,_" he spoke, moving his hand down that was holding a key, placing it into his pocket. "_It has been ages since I have seen a steam train before._"

"Wh-Who are you?" Henry bravely asked, although shaking a little.

"_I'm the ghost of the mines,_" he responded, mentioning to the surrounding mines with his free hand. "_And I have haunted here for 80 years straight._"

Stephanie felt curious about the man, so she asked from inside Henry's cab, "What's your name?"

He smiled softly and responded to Stephanie's question, "_My name is Keith Bourbon. What will yours be?_"

"I'm Henry," Henry answered. "And this is my friend, Stephanie."

Stephanie waved her hand through the window towards Keith after Henry had introduced her to him before Keith noticed the glowing crystals in her sweater pockets.

"_Did you yank those Glowing Crystals out of the walls back at Sector 8?_" Keith curiously asked, mentioning to the crystals.

Stephanie nodded her head and showed one of the crystals from inside Henry's cab to out of the window.

"_How on earth did she manage to yank them out?_" He asked, sounding slightly surprised.

"She used to yank weeds out from the backyard when she was younger," Henry responded for her. "I was surprised myself when I saw Stephanie yank out the first one too."

Keith chuckled and moved his miner helmet up a little from his eyesight.

"_Well, don't mind if I call you Farrah Fossil, but that is pretty amazing!_" He remarked, chuckling slightly.

Stephanie chuckled along with him, smiling brightly.

Henry smiled, but he looked a little impatient and worried at the same time.

"I'm sorry if I burst anyone's bubbles with greetings, but, we were separated from our friends from chasing some diesels, and trying to find a way out of the caves," Henry spoke, as Keith glanced at him. "Can you help us?"

Keith paused for a moment and thought to himself, humming softly.

"_I could help,_" he replied. "_I do know a way out of these mines. But, I can't step out of them, since I had died here from an accident._"

Stephanie felt sorry for the miner that died here a long time ago, and jumped out of Henry's cab, walking over to the ghost miner.

"Maybe we could do a little deal?" she suggested.

Keith perked a little when Stephanie offered a deal.

"_What's the deal?_" he asked curiously, raising an eyebrow.

"If you help us out of the caves," Stephanie spoke. "You could have freedom easily!"

Henry looked surprised, concerned, and frightened at the same time.

Keith reacted the same way too.

"_How?_" he asked. "_You're not giving your body up for me, are you?_"

Stephanie shook her head no, laughing softly.

"You'll see," she responded, before holding out her right metal hand for a handshake. "Let's shake on it?"

Keith paused for a moment about her deal, before smiling, revealing a small gold tooth from the corner of his mouth.

"_It's a deal!_" he nodded, taking her hand roughly and shaking on it.

It did not hurt Stephanie's arm when he shook on it, as she chuckled.

Henry winced nervously about what she is doing before they released hands.

"_Keep moving forward and go to the minecart rails,_" Keith spoke, nodding his pick over his shoulder to the mine behind his back. "_That road will lead out back outside. I'll meet you there once you get there, okay?_"

Stephanie nodded her head, and Keith disappeared, as Stephanie went back towards Henry.

"Did you give him your own body for serious?!" Henry exclaimed worriedly.

"No." Stephanie calmly responded. "You'll see later when we get out of here, okay?"

Henry hesitated as Stephanie got into his cab, picking Mittens up from the ground, and leaned her head out from the window.

But, he trusts Stephanie with everything she does, so he decided to go into the mining.

When he entered, he felt shudders over his body, seeing every building around him was empty, like a ghost mine.

Stephanie felt shudders down her spine too, as Mitten's fur stuck up from the ends as she puffed like a cotton ball.

When they came across the minecart rails, Stephanie placed Mittens into her sweater, this time, she kept one arm on the railing of the window, as the other was holding Mittens protectively.

The old machinery worked again and hooked against Henry's undercarriage, bringing him up onto the tracks, going a separate direction than the one on the map that Stephanie showed him before.

'I immediately regret this decision…' Henry thought to him, chewing his lip internally.

Stephanie gently patted his side with her right arm, letting him know she is perfectly okay.

Suddenly, half of Keith's ghost appeared before Henry's face, startling him slightly as he yelped.

"_Oh, I forgot to mention,_" Keith spoke, pushing his miner helmet up slightly. "_You have to be careful around these parts of the mines because some rocks could be loose. And don't go into the Sacred Indian Burial Chambers. It's too dangerous for a big train like you, and with your friends. But I'll see you all soon._"

With that, he vanished into thin air, as Henry sighed in relief.

Suddenly, his front wheels when over a sudden drop of the rails, and they plunged into a dark hole, as Henry screamed in fear.

1


	12. No Brakes!

Henry screamed in fear as he zipped down the dark hole, luckily still on the rails.

Stephanie was peering out of the window, gritting her teeth as her right hand was gripping onto the railing.

Her long hair in a ponytail was waving around, luckily not in her face or her eyes.

Henry tried slowing down from the speed, but his brakes would not work!

Stephanie noticed the problem and wanted to help him with the best she could.

But the ride he was going really fast, and Stephanie was stuck to the rail because her grip was firm.

Suddenly, they zoomed forward and noticed a stray minecart was going to hit them, but luckily they missed it by an inch, to their slight relief.

As soon as they went up the hill, Henry suddenly was launched off the rails, as he yelped in fear, while Stephanie hissed through her teeth, feeling her feet being lifted from the ground, as her grip on his window ledge tightened.

Luckily, they were able to land back on the rails, without a scratch on their body or a dent.

"I WANT OFF THIS CRAZY RIDE!" Henry screamed, panicking as he continued trying to put his brakes on.

But they still would not operate any matter how many times he tried to put them on!

He screamed when they dived, heading deeper and deeper into the darkness, as Stephanie groaned through her mouth, closed.

Mittens curled closer to her stomach, shaking like a leaf, and her claws were stuck to her shirt again.

But, Stephanie did not mind it and continued watching the ride, feeling scared and nauseous at the same time.

Then, out of the blue, Henry was suddenly launched off the rails!

He yelped and tried to turn, but he went down the wooden platforms, trying to put his brakes on to keep Stephanie and Mittens safe from any harm.

As he went down the platform for a good minute, he was back on the rails and went through a closed area.

He closed both of his eyes to not get the wood debris into them.

Henry climbed up another hill before crashing into a minecart that was left up there.

After Henry bumped into the minecart as it moved forward, they went down and took a tight turn, Henry almost going off the rails as he yelped.

Stephanie used her weight on the other side of the cab, putting Henry back on the rails, and the minecart flung off, startling Henry a little.

He gave up on trying to get his brakes to work as Stephanie quickly moved back to the window after getting his balance back on track.

Then, they entered another part of the mines, going down a short hill.

A round rock suddenly crashed in front of Henry, rolling along with him while going through the mine.

They zipped and turned through corners, before Henry went up a hill for a moment, and starting to slow down!

Stephanie mouthed the words, "Uh-oh," from inside his cab.

The weight from Henry started to move back, as the boulder started to follow too!

Henry yelped and tried hitting the brakes once more, but it was still no use!

He went backwards and onto a different track, while the boulder was pushing him along the way.

Luckily, Henry moved to the side when he entered a different tunnel, as the boulder rolled past him and down a separate shaft.

Henry sighed in relief after the boulder rolled away before continued moving forward, causing him to yelp.

"SOMEONE STOP ME!" he shrieked at the top of his lungs, as they went into the darkness again.

They went through another wooden gate and entered what seems to be some type of tunnel that has lamps around to light the way.

From the corner of Henry's eye, he could see a blur of blue and red past his side, screaming along the way.

"GORDON?! " Henry exclaimed loudly. "BRAEDEY?!"

"HENRY?!" The blurs exclaimed back.

"SUGAR, HONEY, ICED TEA!" Stephanie cursed as a minecart bumped into Henry's front, causing him to go backwards again as James and Gordon went down a separate track.

Henry went down a hill backwards, as he panicked, desperately trying to put his brakes on.

Stephanie hissed through her teeth nervously as they entered a forbidden area of the mine, as bats waved over Henry's face.

He yelped and used his breath to blow them away, as he moved forward again, this time, feeling some other trains hitting the back of his bumpers, kicking the speed up a little.

Henry yelped as they went down a separate track and entered a halfway finished tunnel before the same boulder appeared, causing him and the other trains to scream, and he closed his eyes, hearing a crash from in front of him.

He opened one eye to see the boulder got stuck on the other side of the unfinished tunnel, before something cracked underneath their wheels, causing him and the trains behind him to go through the large hole.

They all screamed as they went through the hole, before landing back on the tracks, moving forward.

Henry crashed through some wooden gates, before once again bumping into a minecart, moving it forward as they zoomed through the forbidden place.

Henry and the trains were scared out of their wits, frantically trying to make their breaks work.

Stephanie, on the other hand, was getting sick, as she gagged a little, her hair slowly turning light green from the roots of her hair.

Suddenly, he landed back on the tracks, seeing a familiar small engine in front of him, moving forward and glancing around, with another one behind him.

"THOMAS! EDWARD!" Henry shrieked at the top of his lungs. "WATCH OUT!"

Thomas and Edward yelped and tried to speed up, but with the weight and the speed Henry was going in, he bumped into them and sped down the tunnel, all of them screaming.

"SLOW DOWN, HENRY!" Thomas screamed.

"I CAN'T !" Henry wailed. "MY BREAKS WON'T WORK!"

Thomas tried using his brakes, but they would not work either, which made him panic even more.

"M-MINE WON'T WORK EITHER!" Thomas panicked.

"MINE TOO!" Edward panicked.

"WHAT ABOUT YOURS?!" Henry asked the other trains behind him.

"NONE OF OURS WORKS!" A familiar female's voice called, sounding as panicked as Henry is.

"LADY?!" Thomas exclaimed.

"OH, FLIP , UMBRELLA, CAKE, KANE!" Stephanie shrieked, as Thomas glanced back in the front, seeing they were going down another drop.

Then, they entered a field where there are Indian totems all over the place with teepees and burial spots.

"WE ARE NOT SUPPOSED TO BE IN HERE!" Henry shrieked. "THIS IS THE INDIAN SACRED BURIAL CHAMBER!"

Suddenly, the feeling of more trains bumped from behind, causing the speed to speed up a little more.

"Slow down, slow down, slow down, slow down!" James panicked, trying to put his brakes on.

But, still, none of the train's breaks work at all.

"WE'RE DEAD!" Stephanie panicked, her grip on Henry's window ledge tight, that her knuckles were a light metal color.

Soon, they zoomed down another tunnel, this time, there was light at the other side of it.

That gave them a chance to try their breaks, noticing it works now, and they skidded to a stop.

After they stopped before more damage comes, they were exhausted and worn out, as their cheeks were a little red.

Once they had stopped, Stephanie stumbled out of Henry, looking a little sick.

"Are… you okay, Stephanie?" Henry asked, between pants.

Stephanie only responded with a "Hurrp!" as she covered her mouth with her right hand, while Mittens tumbled out of her sweater, looking dizzy and scared.

She was all fluffed up and shaking like a leaf.

Her long brown hair was now a light green color from the roots.

"Are you… okay?" Henry asked again.

"Yeah, yeah," Stephanie answered, waving her hand slightly over to them. "I'm… Perfectly fine… Maybe…"

Stephanie gagged again, and her head ducked down a little as the trains winced slightly.

Suddenly, Keith appeared behind Stephanie, looking a little worried about her as she gagged the third time.

"_Are you alright?_" he asked, moving his hand over to her shoulder.

Stephanie gulped dryly and stood back up, as the light green color from her roots turned back to normal.

"Yeah, I am now." she nodded her head. "Anyways, about that deal?"

"_Oh,_" he repositioned himself. "_What is it?_"

Stephanie smiled and placed her left hand against his chest, as her blue streak glowed a little, causing the trains to be curious.

Suddenly, Keith's body turned back to normal, turning him into a human.

The trains were surprised by the magic Stephanie had done, as Keith felt his body with his left hand.

"There, the deal's done." Stephanie smiled, pushing her right sleeve up, revealing some writing on her wrist that had his name on it, slowly disappearing.

Before wobbling a bit, as she moved her elbows out a little to regain it.

She is a little sick, but she manages to force herself to be okay for the trains.

He looked surprised himself from the strange magic Stephanie has, before she moved her sleeve back over her wrist.

"Now," she pushed her glasses into place with her first finger of her right hand and patted his shoulder. "You can have a choice, you can go back to the station where you'll return home, or you can join us on the adventure!"

Keith paused for a moment, looking unsure of the little suggestion Stephanie gave.

"It's your choice," she assured him. "Anyone else or me are going to force you to do it."

She had honesty in her eyes as she had her hand on her chest, as Keith glanced over at the tired out trains.

"Alright," he nodded his head. "I'll join you until we return to Sodor."

Stephanie smiled and hugged Keith as he looked a little startled, nearly dropping his pick.

"Great!" she beamed before releasing him from her hug. "Can you help the trains to get some water into their tanks?"

Keith paused for a moment before nodding his head.

"Sure," he nodded, setting his pick on the ground, leaning against a stray crate.

Stephanie climbed onto Thomas, who was in front of Edward.

Thomas did not move as she was sitting right beside the value, looking a little confused and tired.

"But," Keith spoke, glancing up at her. "Do you know how to-?"

Before he could finish his question, Stephanie started unscrewing the lid that covers the water tank open, as a wave of steam came out of it, fogging her glasses.

Thomas and the trains watched as the mist disappeared, revealing Stephanie's face covered with vapor.

She sputtered in slight annoyance like a horse with her lips.

"I always hate it when this happens." Stephanie groaned, taking her glasses off and looking at the lens.

Thomas and the others laughed softly, as Stephanie patiently waited for her glasses to unfold.

Keith chuckled along with the trains and walked over to the water tank to pour the rest of the water inside, pushing his helmet up slightly.

"Never mind, then." he laughed softly, climbing up to help Stephanie as she started unscrewing the lids to the other water tanks of the trains, and this time, avoided from getting her glasses fogged up again.

1


	13. Steady

After filling the water tanks of the trains, Stephanie decided to take a little rest before going, sighing.

Since she was holding on for dear life on Henry, it wore her out a little, along with Mittens, who was napping on Percy's front bumper.

She also allowed the trains to rest a little too from being a little sore.

"Thanks." She thanked Keith, who was resting too, from helping Stephanie fill the tanks.

He nodded his head slightly and sighed.

"Were you the one that was keeping us from using the brakes?" Stephanie asked, perking a little.

Keith looked confused about the ask.

"No," he answered. "I'm not strong enough to do that to that many trains when I was a ghost."

The trains looked confused from Keith's response, glancing at each other.

"Then… who was it?" Nia asked.

Stephanie and Keith shrugged her shoulders in response.

"Well, whoever that was, it gave us a scare!" Gordon huffed.

"A huge scare!" Henry added. "I almost fell off the rails too many times!"

Stephanie nodded her head in agreement and glanced over at her metal hand, seeing that her knuckles were still a little a lighter metal color.

"I think when we get back to Sodor," James spoke, whining a bit. "I'll get a new coat of paint!"

Stephanie softly chuckled and sat up straight.

"When I get back home, I'll…" she drifted off, rubbing her left arm. "I… don't know…"

"You don't know?" Thomas asked. "What about your parents?"

Stephanie rose an eyebrow at them, unamusingly.

"Oh, right." Thomas glanced away, blushing slightly sheepishly. "You're 20 years old and had already moved out of your home."

Keith looked surprised at Stephanie's age, as Stephanie glanced over at him.

"What?" Stephanie asked.

"I thought you were 18 years old!" Keith commented. "You looked to be younger than 20!"

Stephanie sheepishly chuckled, rubbing the back of her neck with her hand, as a light neon pink blush appeared on her cheeks.

"That's why my friends used to say to me, Keith." Stephanie chuckled.

Keith looked curious about her blush than her friends, asking and mentioning to her blush, "How can you blush like that, Steph?"

Stephanie looked confused as she reached up with her right hand, feeling her cheeks.

"Oh," she chuckles . "It's normal."

"'Normal?'" Edward repeated. "Do all humans that are like you blush that normally?"

Immediately, Stephanie's expression changed from being sheepish to fear, as slight purple faded into her steel-blue color.

Her blush also disappeared too, replacing with a slight pale tanned almond color.

Immediately, everyone felt confused and worried, feeling like Keith might have hit a sensitive spot.

"N-Y-I-" Stephanie stammered, trembling like a leaf as she stared at her hands. "I…"

Memories came to her like water, showing someone standing tall above her, grinning menacingly at her with white teeth.

It made her start to hyperventilate about the memory in fear, not noticing her friends were worried about her.

Suddenly, the sound of one of the train whistles snapped her back into reality, blinking as the purple color faded out of her steel-blue.

Keith had his hand on her shoulder, looking concerned for her along with the trains.

And it was Gordon's whistle that snapped her back to reality.

"So sorry for asking that question, Stephanie." Edward apologized. "I didn't know that could bring you horrible memories."

Stephanie shakily sighed and patted Keith's hand that was on her shoulder for assuring.

"I-It's okay, Edward." Stephanie stammered, still shaking like a leaf to them. "Just be more careful with your words, please."

Edward nodded his head and watched as Stephanie was calming down from her memory, looking confused and worried.

"Did… something bad happened in her past?" Nia slowly asked.

"I don't know." Thomas sighed. "But let's do a quick headcount to see who's here."

Keith nodded his head and helped Stephanie up to her feet after she had completely calmed down from her fear.

Stephanie repositioned her sweater and walked up to Thomas, pulling out a clipboard from her sweater pocket.

"Thomas?" she asked, calling out the train's name.

"Here," Thomas responded, whistling his whistle.

Stephanie nodded and checked off his name.

She walked down the line to the next person behind him.

"Gordon?" Stephanie called.

"Here," he responded, whistling his whistle.

Stephanie nodded her head and checked his name off the list.

"Gordon, could you move behind Thomas," Stephanie politely asked, as Gordon nodded his head.

Gordon left the line and moved behind Thomas when he moved up a little.

"James?" Stephanie called the next train.

"Here," James responded, whistling his whistle.

Stephanie nodded her head and checked his name off the list.

"Alright, you move behind Gordon, okay?" Stephanie asked as James nodded.

James moved behind Gordon, and Stephanie called out the next train's name.

"Percy?" Stephanie called.

"Here," Percy responded, whistling his whistle.

Stephanie smiled a little, and politely asked, "Percy, you are behind James."

Percy nodded his head and moved from inside the line behind James.

"Edward?" Stephanie called to the next train.

"Here," Edward responded, whistling his whistle.

Stephanie nodded her head, and politely asked Edward, "Could you move behind Percy, please?"

Edward nodded his head and moved behind Percy, as Keith was connecting them with the chains.

After Edward moved, Stephanie named off the next train's name.

"Henry?" Stephanie called.

"Here," Henry responded, whistling his whistle.

Stephanie nodded her head and politely asked, "Henry, you may stay there for a moment, okay?"

Henry nodded his head and stayed put, as Stephanie named off the next train's name.

"Emily?" Stephanie called.

"Here," Emily responded, whistling her whistle.

Stephanie nodded her head and politely asked, "Could you move behind Henry, please?"

Emily nodded her head and moved, being careful with Keith as he chained her to Henry.

Stephanie checked Emily's name off and called out for the next one.

"Rebecca?" She called, glancing up slightly from her clipboard.

"Here," Rebecca answered, whistling her whistle.

Stephanie smiled and nodded her head in response.

"Can you move behind Emily, please?" she politely asked.

Rebecca nodded her head and moved behind her as Stephanie checked her name off.

"What about us?" A voice asked from behind, confusing the trains.

Stephanie peeked around the trains with her body, looking curious about who responded after naming off the machines from the list.

She noticed Lady behind Rebecca, along with 2 more trains that she had never seen before.

The second one behind Lady is painted cherry red with dark raspberry tank panels, gold boiler bands, and light gray lining.

She has gold lining above her wheels and around her ladder.

The second train also has the letters "NWR" written on her tank panels in light gray and the number "37" in light gray under her cab windows.

She also has freckles on her cheeks, which made Stephanie curious.

The third train is painted hot pink with white and royal blue lining.

Her wheels, whistle, and buffer beam are also painted hot pink, royal blue, and she bears several bright green, white and orange patterns, inspired by Indian textiles and Henna Tattoos.

Flower petal designs were decorated on the front of her cylinder block.

"Oh," Stephanie perked, walking over to them. "I didn't notice you were with us, Lady."

Lady sheepishly chuckled while blushing.

"I was trying to find you all because I know there could be more magical things happening," Lady responded.

Stephanie nodded her head in agreement and wrote Lady's name on her clipboard.

After writing Lady's name to the clipboard, she went to the second train.

"What's your name, and why are you doing all this way out from Sodor?" she asked.

"I'm Rosie!" the train responded. "And I wasn't following you all, I was trying to figure out what's going on with the magic. But all I did was to get lost in that cave and bump into the girls."

Stephanie chuckled and wrote Rosie's name on the clipboard, as Henry in the background was blushing slightly for some odd reason.

"Accidents happen, Rosie," Stephanie assured her. "Besides, I like your name. My middle name is Rose too. Stephanie Nova Rose Allen."

Rosie looked surprised and a little flattered as she blushed, before chuckling.

"Pleased to meet you, Stephanie." Rosie greeted.

Stephanie nodded her head and walked over to the next train, although blushing a little.

"नमस्ते महोदया।." Stephanie greeted, bowing to her slightly.

The train looked surprised by what Stephanie said to her, along with the others in front.

"What did she say?" James asked as Keith shrugged his shoulders in response.

"That sounds familiar," Thomas mumbled to himself, thinking about who Stephanie is talking to.

"आप हिंदी बोलते हैं?" the train asked back in the language she spoke, sounding slightly curious and confused.

"हां मैं करता हूं।." Stephanie smiled. "मैं आपकी तरह भारतीय नहीं हूं, लेकिन अगर कोई अंग्रेजी नहीं समझता है तो मुझे बोलने के लिए भाषा समझ में नहीं आती है।."

She perked a little when she responded, smiling gently.

"हालांकि," Stephanie spoke. "क्या आप अंग्रेजी समझते हैं?"

"Yes, I do understand English." she nodded her head, speaking English. "My name is Ashima."

"Ashima?!" Thomas exclaimed. "Wh-What are you doing here?!"

"I was trying to find a way to see you, Thomas," Ashima responded. "It has been years since we've met! And… I was wondering who your friends are."

Stephanie softly chuckled and answered, "My name is Stephanie, by the way. Stephanie Nova Rose Allen."

Ashima bowed slightly to Stephanie, and she wrote her name onto the clipboard that is in her hands.

Keith chained the trains together, and Stephanie placed the clipboard into her sweater pocket, going over to Thomas and climbing into his cab, with Mittens in her arms.

"Alright," Thomas nodded his head, getting ready to keep going. "Let's go."

When he began moving, he noticed there was more weight added.

Stephanie peered out the window slightly with Keith, noticing the slight struggle before Gordon gave Thomas a gentle push to keep moving.

After Gordon had given Thomas a gentle push, they kept moving forward, heading into the mountains.

1


	14. The Crates And A Fallen Over Crane

Thomas and his friends continued down the path until they reached a large area, with river water on the side of it.

"Where are we?" Stephanie softly asked, looking confused as she glanced around the new surroundings.

Thomas also noticed the confusion tone in Stephanie's voice, seeing where they were as he glanced around.

"Oh, I know where we are now!" Thomas exclaimed. "We're on the canal outside of Sodor!"

"Basically, what he is saying is we are on the Mainland!" James corrected Thomas for Stephanie when she glanced over at him with a slightly confused look on her face.

Stephanie understood him with a slight smile on her face and glanced back in the front before Thomas stopped when there was a massive wooden crate on the tracks.

The trains behind his back also stopped, too, luckily not bumping into him.

Thomas groaned in slight irritation and glanced up over the crate.

"Beresford!" Thomas called. "Can you move the crate? It's me, Thomas!"

No response to Thomas' call.

Stephanie noticed no cranes were moving the crates around, so she hopped out of Thomas' cab without him noticing to check on what is happening.

"Beresford!" Thomas called again to the crane, whose name he was summoning, before whistling his whistle. "Can you hear me?"

Still no response to Thomas' calls even to his whistle too.

Stephanie slipped between the crates quickly towards were creaking noises are coming from, sounding like the crane that Thomas was calling to is trying to get up from falling over.

"Beresford?" Thomas called again.

When Stephanie reached a really tight space between two crates, she moved her arms up over her head in a pencil position and carefully squeezed through like a cat.

Thomas' voice in the distance was semi-unhearable, as the creaking noises were louder than his voice.

"Son of a-" A voice snapped before the creaking happened again.

Stephanie finally popped out of the space she is going through, seeing what happened to the missing crane.

The crane is painted sky blue with magenta and yellow lining and white hazard stripes.

He was attempting to move his arm down to push himself up back to the tracks, but is having trouble because of his weight and looked frustrated.

"Uh, excuse me?" Stephanie spoke, startling him as he landed on the ground with a thump.

It caused the ground to shake a little, and luckily did not make Stephanie fall over to her bottom.

He glanced around for the source of the voice until Stephanie stepped forward.

"Do you need help?" Stephanie asked as he glanced over at her.

He sighed and shook his head no.

"No thanks," he spoke, before trying again to get up from the ground with his arm. "I… think I can…"

He grunted as he tried pushing himself up, but collapsed on the ground with another thump.

He huffed after he had landed back on the ground, looking really annoyed.

"Maybe you need help now?" Stephanie asked, smiling a little.

"How can a tiny human like you lift me up from the ground?" He asked, snapping a little. "I'm too big for you to pick up, and you will get hurt!"

Stephanie rolled her eyes and reached into her sweater pockets with both of her hands.

She rummaged around her pockets for a moment, searching for something inside of them.

"What are you getting?" He asked, sounding confused than irritated.

After rummaging around in her pockets for a moment, she pulled out a small cloth drawstring bag in the color of a light gray.

He looked confused as she reached inside and pulled out a small handful of some strange white powder from inside.

"What's that?" He asked, sounding confused.

"Sneezing powder," Stephanie answered. "It helps me with something I'm about to do. So, watch and learn."

With that, she placed the drawstring bag into her pocket and flung the sneezing powder into her face.

She snorted a little when some sneezing powder got into her nose.

Then, she started to sneeze loudly.

"ACHOO!" she sneezed.

On the other side of the crates, Thomas was waiting for the crane to respond to him, but still did not get an answer.

He was about to whistle his whistle again to call to the crane when they heard Stephanie's sneeze.

They assumed that Stephanie was still inside Thomas' cab because they did not see her step out of him and go through the crates.

"Bless you, Stephanie," James politely spoke to Stephanie's sneeze.

"ACHOO!" Stephanie sneezed again, this time, louder and from the other side of the crates.

Now they know that she sounded off a little after she sneezed before.

"How did she get over there?" Nia asked curiously.

"She must've gotten out of my cab and squeezed through the crates!" Thomas exclaimed, hearing another sneeze from Stephanie. "But what is she allergic to since she is sneezing that much?"

"Cats, perhaps?" Gordon suggested.

"She did not sneeze when she was holding Mittens," Keith responded from inside Thomas' cab, holding Mittens in his hands.

The trains looked confused as Stephanie kept on sneezing in the distance.

Meanwhile, the crane looked surprised as Stephanie continued sneezing, as multiples of her appeared around her.

When she sneezed the last sneeze, as the last of hers appeared around before Stephanie sniffed.

"See?" Stephanie smirked, snorting a little. "Don't judge a person by the-the-the looks."

Stephanie sneezed again, louder than the other sneezes, and a group of Stephanies appeared before her.

"Gesundheit," he remarked.

"Vielen Dank." Stephanie thanked back in German, as she wiped her nose with her sleeve, luckily not having snot coming out of her nose.

After sneezing, the Stephanies walked over to the crane and placed their hands on him, as the real Stephanie watched.

"Licet!" Stephanie spoke in Latin, sounding a little snuffed up. "Sit eum tolle simul!"

They nodded their heads and waited for the next order.

"Unus, duo," Stephanie counted, before saying, "Tres!" and the copies started to push the crane back, as he looked startled from the strength they had.

When he was nearly onto the tracks, Stephanie sniffed and sneezed two more times, as more Stephanies appeared before her.

They ran over to the other side of the crane and pulled their right metal arms back, as he thought they were going to punch him with it.

Instead, they shot their fists forward and their hands detached from their arms, heading towards him while chained at the end.

He looked impressed as they grabbed his rails, his legs, and gripping on tight with their fingers.

Not using too much strength to dent him all over his body.

"Unus, duo," Stephanie counted again, before saying, "Tres!" and they pulled, as their left hand was gripping onto the chains, getting him onto the tracks with their strength.

After one more tug, he was back on the tracks, as the Stephanies sighed in relief.

"Err," he spoke, glancing around his body to see they were relieved that he is okay. "Thank you."

Stephanie smiled and said, calling to Beresford as she cupped a hand over her mouth, "You're welcome!"

"Beresford?" Thomas' voice called to him.

It sounded like it is in the distance and behind the crates.

It caused him to look up from looking down at Stephanie on the ground.

"Ah, Thomas!" he beamed, before noticing the crates around him and blocking Thomas' way. "Oops."

Stephanie chuckled and glanced up at him, before cupping a hand over her mouth.

"Let's help you with that, Beresford!" Stephanie called, sniffing a little and still sounding a little stuffed.

The Stephanies split up into different groups and picked up the crates, even the ones that are blocking the tracks.

After the crate in front of Thomas moved, that was too heavy for Beresford to lift and caused him to fall over when he had it picked up before, they were surprised to see that there were multiple Stephanies!

"Hi, Thomas!" All of them greeted simultaneously, before walking away, carrying the crate over to the side. "Bye, Thomas!"

All the trains blinked their eyes, as Gordon mumbled in the distance to himself, "I think I need some sleep…"

A giggle came from the real Stephanie in the middle of the group and in front of Beresford.

"Sorry," Stephanie apologized, sounding a little stuffed from her nose. "I sometimes get to see what happened first before the others because they might g-g-get more panicked."

Stephanie sneezed again, and with the train looking, she multiplied, and they separated, helping with the other struggling Stephanies.

They were surprised to see that happen before their eyes.

Stephanie sniffed and wiped her nose with her sleeve, as Beresford told the trains, "She used some sneezing powder to help her to sneeze! Isn't it extraordinary?"

"I… suppose," Gordon slowly spoke, sounding a little startled but surprised. "But, we thought she was allergic to something that caused her to sneeze a lot!"

"I'm allergic to nothing!" Stephanie smiled, sniffing a little. "But, the clones and my sneezing will die down a little after 3 hours passed."

"Cinders and ashes!" Thomas exclaimed. "It lasts for 3 hours?!"

Stephanie nodded her head and sniffed.

"Yeah, luckily, my nose doesn't fall off as I sneeze." Stephanie joked a little, before sneezing, as a group of clones appeared.

Beresford chuckled, before asking, "Although, how are all of you are going to carry all of these Stephanies?"

All the Stephanie glanced at each other before glancing back up at Beresford, shrugging their shoulders at the same time.

Thomas thought to himself for a moment before smiling a little.

"Why not split up into different groups for the other trains?" Thomas suggested as they all glanced over at him. "It could be easier than me having all the Stephanies at the same time! I would be too slow to move!"

They glanced at each other for a moment, before looking back at Thomas nodded their heads.

"Good idea!" one of them beamed.

When that Stephanie clone spoke to Thomas, she sounded identical to the real Stephanie!

"I like that idea!" Another chirped.

Soon, they split up into different groups and entered the cabs, looking out the window just like the real Stephanie would do.

The real Stephanie was inside Thomas, along with Mittens and Keith.

"Let's…" She paused as she sniffed. "Go!"

Thomas moved forward and continued on their way to the Golden Mountain as Beresford smiled slightly.

It was small, but a little sad too.

"Remember to be careful with sneezing too much, or else your nose will somehow fall off!" he joked before laughing, cheering himself up.

The Stephanies laughed along with him, before waving their hands goodbye to him through the windows.

He waved at them with his arm, brightly smiling as they disappeared into the distance.

1


	15. Nighttime Blues

Soon, nighttime came, filling the sky with billions and billions of tiny white sparkles.

It makes the time a little better, as Stephanie, Keith, and Mittens were watching the sky.

After 3 hours passed, the clones of Stephanie had vanished, along with her sneezing too.

"Hey, Keith?" Stephanie spoke curiously, catching Keith's attention.

"Hhm?" He replied, glancing over at her from looking out in the plain.

"Can you see Sagittarius?" Stephanie asked, pointing to the sky.

Keith glanced back up at the sky, and connected the stars, trying to see which one is the Sagittarius constellation Stephanie pointed too.

After looking around for a moment at the sky, he found what Stephanie was talking about.

"That one?" he mentioned, pointing to what she found.

"Yep," she nodded her head, moving her hand down from pointing at the sky along with Keith. "That's the Sagittarius Zodiac of the month and day when I was born."

Keith looked confused as he glanced back at Stephanie as she looked slightly puzzled from the expression on his face.

"You were born?" he asked, sounding confused.

Stephanie glanced away from him and looked down at the ground, not bothering to make eye contact with him.

"I thought you were created!" Keith exclaimed.

"I thought the same thing, too!" Thomas nodded his head. "But what made you like that, Stephanie?"

Stephanie said nothing, but stayed quiet the whole time, while staring down at the moving ground with her hands underneath her chin.

"Uh, Stephanie," Edward spoke, noticing that the mood around started to wear slim. "What other constellation you could see?"

Stephanie perked a little from the ask, deciding to use that to change the subject.

"Well, there's Orion," Stephanie spoke, standing up straight and pointing to the sky for Keith and Mittens. "Who's trying to fight against Taurus the bull to get to the Seven Sisters."

The trains perked a little when Stephanie named the constellations in the sky.

"Ooh, what about that one?" James asked. "That constellation, that looked like a sideways cross!"

Stephanie looked at the constellation that James asked, smiling a bit.

But, the smile seemed to be a little sadder than happy.

"The Cygnus constellation?" Stephanie asked, pointing to it with her right hand.

"Yes," James nodded. "I thought that it was just some strange cross."

Stephanie softly chuckled and responded, glancing over at him from over her shoulder, "No, it's the constellation of Cygnus, which was a goose."

"A goose constellation?" Thomas spoke, sounding confused.

"Yep!" Stephanie smiled softly. "There is also the Scorpio constellation, Libra constellation, and other ones too. There are about 88 constellations around the world!"

The trains were surprised when Stephanie mentioned that about the constellations.

"'88 constellations?'" Ashima repeated in amazement. "That's a lot to count!"

Stephanie nodded her head gently before noticing that Percy was yawning slightly from being exhausted.

"Looks like Percy got the right idea for the night," Stephanie spoke, perking a little.

"What's that?" Thomas asked, glancing over to her from the corner of his eye.

Stephanie did not answer Thomas' question and glanced around from inside his cab before noticing an empty spot on the side of the railroad.

The spot looked clean, and quiet too, for Gordon's delight from complaining.

Not only that, there is a fork along the tracks too, just enough for the trains to be uncuffled for the night.

"Let's stop there and take a break." Stephanie pointed. "We could sleep there until the next day."

All the trains nodded their heads as Thomas sighed and stopped as Stephanie came out of Thomas' cab, helping Keith down as he carried Mittens in his arm.

"I'm starving," Keith remarked, after placing Mittens down on the ground. "What are we having?"

Immediately, the trains looked slightly worried when they were side to side, glancing at each other.

"About that," Edward spoke, about to say the bad news, when Stephanie lifted her hand up, stopping him from saying it.

"Wait a moment," Stephanie spoke, before reaching into her sweater pockets, rummaging for a moment.

While rummaging for a moment in her pockets, she pulled out some items that she had that is some cooking utensils, like spoons and spatulas.

Not only that, but she also brought out some bowls, two normal-sized ones, and a small one.

Pushing her glasses into place, she moved her hands up to her chest for a moment before pausing, noticing that she is being watched.

"Uh," she spoke, blushing slightly. "There's another secret I have, but promise me not to panic, okay?"

They looked confused from what Stephanie said, but nodded their heads, along with Keith.

Sighing, she concentrated on something, and the blue streak in her hair glowed slightly, surprising everyone quietly.

After it had glowed, a bubbled item appeared before her from thin air in a light blue color.

Inside was a bag of carrots, and it looked fresh from the store.

The trains were surprised to see the bubbled item appeared in front of Stephanie.

The expression on her face was calm, not startled, unlike Keith.

"How did you do that?" Percy asked.

"Well," Stephanie blushed, glancing away from them while holding the bubbled item in her hands. "I'm not just 95% cyborg, and only 5% human, but I also have a… gemstone."

"'A gemstone?'" Henry repeated in curiosity. "Where is it?"

Stephanie's blush spread more to the tips of her ears, as she glanced away from them, looking really sheepish and ashamed at the same time.

"Well…" Stephanie began, placing a hand on her chest, where her heart is. "It's complicated to say it, but it is a part of me."

The trains looked confused from what Stephanie said, before Edward asked, changing the subject again to help Stephanie be more comfortable, "What are you going to make, Stephanie?"

Stephanie noticed the changing of the subject again, but followed along with it, removing her hand from her chest.

"I'm going to make some potato soup for dinner," Stephanie responded, before popping the bubble that was in front of her, taking the items that were inside. "I just need to find the right pot for it and a campfire to make it."

"Sounds good," Keith nodded, before standing up to his feet. "I'll go to gather some firewood for the campfire."

Stephanie nodded her head and summoned another bubble from thin air in front of her, just like before.

This time, the item contained in it was a large cooking pot.

"Alright!" Stephanie smiled, winking at Keith. "I'll stay here and get the ingredients to make the soup!"

Keith smiled and nodded his head before walking off into the forest, searching for the sticks to make the fire.

After Keith disappeared, Stephanie sighed and continued bringing up some ingredients to make the soup, after bringing out a sturdy sitting table out from the bubble to chop the vegetables.

The trains watched as she began to make the soup, after rolling the sleeves up to her elbows and revealing scars all over her left arm.

But, the ones that stick out were the bite marks.

There was an animal's bite mark at the side of her wrist on the left-hand side of her arm.

Along with it was a scar next to it seems to be from another creature, except with sharper teeth.

The trains were surprised to see those scars decorated all over her left arm.

They worriedly wondered to themselves about who or what did that to her!

But, they decided not to say anything about them to make her feel uncomfortable.

Luckily, Stephanie did not notice they were watching her as she started cutting the vegetables with the knife she had also pulled out from her sweater, chopping them into reasonable pieces.

She still had her long brown hair up into a low ponytail from previously, which impressed some trains that it had not fallen down yet.

Edward glanced away from Stephanie with a slightly worried look on his face until he noticed someone next to him, which caused him to be surprised and blushed slightly.

He saw Ashima next to him, also looking worried for Stephanie, before noticing Edward staring at her.

"Hello," she greeted, as his blush went another shade, causing him to glance away from her, looking a little sheepish. "I did not get to know you since I've met Thomas at the Great Railway Show."

Edward glanced back at her with a slightly puzzled look on his face.

"You're Ashima that Thomas has been talking about?" Edward asked, sounding curious.

Ashima nodded her head, softly chuckling.

"Yes, who are you?" Ashima asked, blushing slightly.

"I'm Edward," Edward answered, having a little confidence to talk to her. "And I am one of Sodor's engines like Thomas and his friends."

Ashima softly smiled, and Stephanie had glanced up from chopping the vegetables, watching as the trains talked to each other.

Not only that, Stephanie noticed there was some love between some trains, blushing a few times as they talked.

A slight smirk appeared on Stephanie's face, but shrugged her shoulders slightly and went back to what she was doing, finishing up with cutting the vegetables.

"So, where did you come from, Ashima?" Edward asked, gently rolling back and forth on his tracks.

"I came from India, Edward," Ashima answered. "It's beautiful there if you want to know."

"Yes, beautiful like your eyes," Edward mumbled to himself, blushing a bit more.

Ashima looked slightly surprised by what Edward mumbled, blushing a bit more and asked, "Do you think so?"

Immediately, Edward's face turned the color of James' paint coat, looking startled that Ashima had heard him mumble out loud of her beauty.

Not only that, there were large puffs of steam coming out of his chimney at a fast rate, and the heat inside his cab was hot.

"I, uh, I," Edward stammered, glancing away from her, looking slightly ashamed at himself for making himself like a fool to her. "Did I really mumble that out loud to myself?"

Ashima chuckled as Edward's blush went up another shade, feeling like he should hide in embarrassment.

"I accept the compliment about my eyes, Edward," Ashima spoke, as Edward glanced over at her with a slightly confused look on his face. "And, I think you are a pretty useful engine yourself."

Edward's cheeks blushed more as he chuckled, glancing away from her and gently rocked back and forth on his tracks, feeling shy around her.

As the trains talked, Stephanie was still setting the soup up, getting the ingredients ready for cooking, waiting for the firewood to come so that she could start.

But while they were talking, Stephanie had a slightly sad look on her face, watching as they smiled and blushed at the same time.

Stephanie lightly shook her head side to side and went back to check what she has, counting a few times before counting with her fingers.

Meanwhile, Keith came out of the woods with armfuls of firewood and noticed Stephanie's slight sad look on her face, as she finished counting what is there in front of her, as Mittens was comfortably laying on Percy's front bumper, purring softly.

"What's wrong?" Keith asked, walking over to her as she flinched in startlement, glancing over to him.

"Oh, Keith," she sighed, glancing away from his sight. "I… was just thinking to myself."

Keith paused for a moment and wanted to say what is wrong with her, but felt like this was not the right moment.

So, he instead walked over to in front of Stephanie and placed the wood down, setting them up so that they could start quickly.

After setting the wood up for Stephanie, he was going to reach for something to light it, when Stephanie said, "Wait a moment, Keith."

Keith stopped reaching for what he was looking for, glancing up at her with a confused look on his face.

Stephanie reached into her sweater pocket with her hand and took out a handful of a clump of hair that looked like it was from a hairbrush.

"All of that came from you?" Keith asked, sounding confused, mostly surprised.

"Yep." Stephanie sighed. "Since I was born with thick hair, it's a little messy for me to get the tangles out. But," she paused as she stuffed the hair into the middle of the firewood. "It's easy to start the fire this way. I learned it from my momma."

An impressive look appeared on Keith's face as she removed her hand from the firewood, before snapping her fingers of her right hand.

A small flame appeared on the tip of Stephanie's finger as she moved it into the firewood, lighting it up to cook the food.

After lighting the firewood, Stephanie quickly blew the small flame on her finger with a single blow of her breath, as Keith looked really surprised.

"You are a fire controller?" Keith asked in curiosity.

"You mean I have pyrokinesis?" Stephanie corrected him, snapping her fingers again, and the same small blue flame appeared on the tip of her finger. "Yes, I do."

Keith was impressed as he watched Stephanie moved the flame gently from one hand to the other as it switches colors of red on her right hand to blue to the left.

"That… is amazing." Keith softly spoke as she blew the flame out from the tip of her finger.

"Thanks!" Stephanie beamed, before placing the cooking pot over the fire, filling it with chicken broth.

The trains watched as Stephanie started to cook the soup, pushing her glasses into place and adding some ingredients inside, after cooking the meat too, which is some bacon strips and chopped into pieces.

"Did your mother also teach you how to cook, too?" Keith asked, mentioning to her cooking.

Stephanie nodded her head softly and stirred the soup, sitting on her legs patiently on the ground.

To their perspective, they imagine her like a Japanese woman from the way she is sitting, looking serene as she stirred the soup casually with the spoon in her hand.

"You remind me of an old girlfriend of mine, Steph," Keith spoke, catching Stephanie's attention from the soup.

"What's that?" she asked, stopped stirring the soup, and glanced over at him.

"You remind me of my girlfriend," Keith repeated himself, sitting up from the position he was in. "She was an Indian native."

Stephanie smiled a little and asked while continuing to stir the soup so that the contents inside would not burn, "What was she like?"

Keith sighed and rubbed the back of his neck with his hand, looking thoughtfully of his past.

"Well," he spoke, sighing to himself. "Before I was a miner, I had been an adventurer."

"Really?" Thomas perked. "Did you go everywhere around the world?"

"Yes," Keith nodded his head. "I used to. Until I met my beautiful Indian girlfriend, named Kateri."

Stephanie paused a little in her stirring, before slowing down a little to not make any noises around the walls of the pot.

"She was my everything." Keith continued, smiling a little at the memory of Kateri. "We used to run off into the horizon to watch the sunset and go fishing together, too."

Stephanie lightly smiled slightly before his smile faded a little.

"Until I was chosen to go mining coal for the city Sodor." Keith sighed, his head dipping down a little.

"Did you see her after mining?" Percy curiously asked.

"Sometimes," Keith responded, sounding a little irritated. "But sometimes the miners over at the mine would harass her and force her to leave a few times."

"That's terrible!" Edward spoke.

Keith nodded his head in response, and Stephanie sighed.

"She must've been really stressed out when you were gone every time you go to the mines." Stephanie softly spoke, feeling sorry for her.

"Even when she meets you after mining," Thomas added.

Keith slowly nodded his head before glancing up at Stephanie.

"The last memory I remember was that before I died in that mine," Keith sighed. "Kateri was pregnant with a child after we had got married."

Stephanie immediately stopped stirring the soup and gasped softly, along with the trains.

"She was pregnant with a child?" Gordon softly spoke.

"That is even worse!" Stephanie sighed. "Not being able to see your child!"

Keith slowly nodded his head again in response.

"There was an accident in the mine," Keith spoke, remembering that moment like it was tomorrow, which gave him chills down the spine. "One of our men had accidentally set off an explosion from taking a break, and it nearly killed everyone, except me."

Stephanie's heart sank from the last memory Keith remembered and stopped stirring the soup.

"That was the last thing I remembered before waking up as a ghost, haunting everyone in the mine when they entered." Keith sighed. "I don't know what happened to my wife or my newborn baby, but… I miss her so much…"

"Keith…" Stephanie spoke, glancing away for a moment, before asking, "May you stir the soup? I… want to tell everyone something…"

Keith paused for a moment before nodding his head as Stephanie moved the spoon over to him.

After giving Keith the spoon, Stephanie moved her hand down and sighed wearily.

"I was only 20 years old when this happened," Stephanie spoke, rubbing her left arm sadly.

"'20?'" Keith repeated in confusion as he stirred the soup. "You said you were 20 years old."

"Physically." Stephanie sighed, rubbing her head with her hand. "Not mentally."

This confused them more from the answers Stephanie gave them.

"How old are you mentally?" Keith asked, sounding a little serious. "If you are uncomfortable about it, I was only 23 years old when I died; I am maybe 1,840 years old now."

Stephanie paused for a moment, perking a little as she glanced over to the corner of her eye.

"I'm… over 64,000 years old." Stephanie finally spoke, ducking her head down.

She did not want to see their faces because she does not want to know what they are going to react to either.

But, she did hear startled and surprised gasps from them.

"Fizzling fireboxes!" Gordon's voice exclaimed in shock. "You are that old?!"

Stephanie nodded her head nervously as her hands clenched her sweater.

"What happened to you that caused your age to go up than your physical form?" Keith asked, sounding as shocked as them.

"Nothing." Stephanie sighed, her hands trembling as her strength in her hands tightened more against her sweater. "I… had an accident too, just… differently than what Keith went through…"

Memories of what she went through haunted her mind, causing her to shake from head to toe.

"It's been 3,138 years since I've talked about this to anyone else…." Stephanie spoke, her head still gazing down at the ground. "But,… I did talk about it to a few that understand me… just not as much as I wanted to tell them…"

She noticed the smell of the soup was delicious, and how many hours have passed, she decided to stop cooking for a moment.

"Uh,…" Stephanie spoke, releasing her sweater from her hands, forcing herself to stop shaking for a moment by clenching them tightly again. "M-May I serve the soup? We can't just talk around here with it burning."

She glanced back up at them, expecting them to have angry looks on their faces, but to her slight surprise, none of them looked mad, except worried.

Keith nodded his head and gave the spoon to Stephanie as she took it with slightly shaking hands and picked up a bowl from the table.

"Did your parents know about it?" Keith asked as Stephanie stopped after serving one of the bowls.

Stephanie shook her head no as she gave the bowl to Keith before serving herself some, finishing the soup.

"Where are they, then?" Thomas asked.

Stephanie sighed and gently tapped her spoon against the bowl, thinking to herself for a moment.

"What's… a better way of saying… passed on?" Stephanie responded, looking at Keith.

Keith looked surprised by what Stephanie said, swallowing a mouthful of potato.

"They're dead?" Keith asked, receiving a nod from Stephanie, as she gave a small bowl of milk to Mittens.

Mittens lapped the milk while arching her back up a little against Stephanie's hand as she patted her back.

"Yes," Stephanie sighed. "I didn't even get to say goodbye to them… Because I was taken from them…"

Stephanie glanced down at the bowl of soup in her hands, as a memory appeared in her mind.

She remembers it like it was yesterday.

* * *

The scene shows a house from a peaceful neighborhood, as there was a pine tree on the left-hand side of the front yard.

A person stepped out from the house, with a hood over their head.

"_I was only 20 years old when it happened._" Stephanie continued, telling them about her past. "_After we celebrated it on my birthday._"

"_It happened after your birthday?_" Thomas asked, interrupting slightly.

"_Shh._" Edward softly shushed Thomas. "_Don't interrupt her._"

"_It's okay, Edward,_" Stephanie assured. "_It did happen after my birthday._"

The scene of the memory showed a younger version of Stephanie, with beautiful long brown hair, no wires on the left-hand side of her head, and hazelnut eye color.

Her height was short, and her structure was fluffy, with a chubby face and a smiling grin.

She was wearing the same clothes that she is wearing now in the future.

"_I wasn't always a normal and average teenager._" Stephanie chuckled. "_I was a special child to my parents and my sister._"

The past Stephanie ran over to three taller figures and embraced them, as the people hugged her back with their arms.

"_You had a sister?_" Percy softly asked.

"_Yes!_" Stephanie chuckled, sadly in the tone of her voice. "_A little sister!_"

The memory then changed to inside a school, where past Stephanie was talking with her friends.

Her sister was standing beside her, softly smiling as they had backpacks and carrying books in their arms.

"_I had a disability back then,_" Stephanie smiled painfully. "_I was diagnosed with ADHD. And with that, I had an amazing ability that can allow me to think differently apart from the other people._"

There were two people with her, one of them chuckling as she made goofy faces, as the sister figure looked slightly embarrassed.

"_Because of that, I was a complete goofball and weirdo to my sister,_" Stephanie continued chuckling. "_Always embarrassing her whenever we are around new people._"

Then, the memory changed back to a restaurant, where the past Stephanie is now wearing a beautiful blue birthday dress, blowing the candles of her cake.

"_Now, about my birthday._" Stephanie sighed. "_After I had blown out my candles, my boyfriend, Evan, presented me a gift._"

"_What was it?_" Nia curiously asked.

"_A proposal!_" Stephanie beamed. "_We were going to be married!_"

The trains softly gasped in the background as the memory of her boyfriend knelt down on one knee and presented her a necklace with a heart-shaped pendant on it, causing her to gasp softly and cover her mouth with her hands.

The past Stephanie laughed softly as her boyfriend gave her the proposal necklace to her, putting it around her neck before hugging her gently.

The surrounding people clapped their hands together in happiness as some cried with tears of joy.

"_How happy were you?_" Thomas asked.

"_Ecstatic!_" Stephanie smiled, chuckling to herself from the happy memory. "_Even my parents, friends, and my sister were happy, too!_"

But then the memory of the past took a dark turn immediately.

It showed her walking out of a store she came by during her driving.

She was thinking to herself while tapping her fingers against her left arm as her right hand was against her cheek.

"_But… that happiness soon faded on that incident._" Stephanie's tone of her voice turned into slight fear and sadness.

A tall figure appeared from behind her, as the past Stephanie turned around to see the person, looking startled at first, but calmed down as she placed a hand against her chest.

"_What happened?_" Braedey asked.

"_A tall figure appeared out of nowhere,_" Stephanie answered. "_Asking me a question if I wanted to change my life differently and try a new way._"

The figure mouthed the words that Stephanie told the trains, mentioning to follow him.

Past Stephanie looked confused about what the person asked, moving her hand away from her cheek.

"_What did you say?_" Ashima asked.

"_I refused,_" Stephanie answered as the past her mouthed the words she repeated a long time ago. "_All I said to him was, 'No, thank you, but my life is already happy, and I don't want to restart my life.'_"

In the memory, Stephanie turned back around to think to herself, thinking he would leave after she refused.

But, instead, the tall figure pulled out a needle from a pocket and jabbed it into the back of her neck, knocking her out as the memory blacked out for a moment.

"_Oh, how much I was wrong…_" Stephanie sighed.

The memory then showed a group of smiling people, grinning evilly at her as she was curled up into a corner.

Her hands were on top of her head and shaking like a leaf.

Her long hair was grown out and dirty, along with her slightly pale skin.

She is not wearing her clothes on except an ugly light apple-green hospital gown that reaches down to her ankles.

"_They kidnapped me from my family and performed…. Too many procedures on me…_" Stephanie spoke, her voice sounding terrified than scared. "_They… wanted me to be better than who I was. They… were the ones that took me from my parents and my sister…_"

Then, it showed various hospital equipment, needles filled with different and created drugs, and many more, added into her as she was pinned against a procedure table, unable to move and watch in horror.

"_For 60 years, I have been suffering through it…_" Stephanie sighed. "_And 60 years of empty promises and deals._"

It showed one by one of the doctors that greeted her, showing her a 'happy' smile on their faces.

"'_Oh, don't worry about it. You'll soon see your parents as soon as we are done with you.' one of the doctors would tell me._" Stephanie continued. "_Another would say, 'Oh, don't forget, you only have 59 years until we are finished.' as if they are taunting me._"

The next memory showed a damaged Stephanie, laying on the ground on her back, twitching from head to toe.

Cracks were spreading from her chest where her heart was, as there were cracks underneath her eyes.

As if she was crying for many, many years, scarring her cheeks with tear stains.

The image looked as if she was a mirror, shattered by someone.

She coughed black liquid through her mouth repeatedly, as the doctors watched her with soulless eyes, not even bothering to help her.

"_Instead of doing something about it and try to escape what I have been inside, I instead accepted the empty promises and deals, going with what they were doing, like a moth to a flame…_" Stephanie sighed. "_Too many times we went over the edge, too many times I was on the verge of… losing myself._"

The next scene showed Stephanie, all huddled up against the wall of her cell, crying softly to herself and gently rocking herself back and forth.

"_What do you mean by that?_" James asked after a while of silence.

"_I meant like… losing sanity slowly…_" Stephanie slowly answered.

The next memory shows moments of her, first going through insanity, laughing as she had her hands on her head, yanking strands of hair from her head, causing her to go bald slightly.

The next is anxiety, where she is cuddled against the corner of her cell, hyperventilating as she had her head on her knees, repeatedly said a sentence to herself.

The next is rage, where she is bashing her fists against the left side of the wall, against a mirror of herself, smashing it in the middle.

And the last was depression, where she is curled into the middle of the room.

She was crying to herself and holding something close to her chest.

"_How did you finally escape?_" Thomas asked.

The next memory flashed quickly before going back to a different one, but in the quick vision showed a creature, taller than anyone else and roaring with sharp teeth, and has black fur, with red eyes and pinprick pupils.

The creature also has long metal claws pointed at the tip and pointed ears with a sharp-tipped tail.

"…_I lost my last straw of being 'okay.'_" Stephanie sighed. "_They… revealed their true natures and said they weren't alive anymore and wanted to keep me forever until… my creator gets what he wanted once they are done with me._"

Then, it showed the scientists and doctors laughing as she was chained in the middle of a room, her wrists, ankles, and neck chained, as her eye color changed from hazelnut to a ruby red, as her pupils narrowed into pinpricks, and narrowed them.

"_That was the last time I was happy._" Stephanie sighed as the silhouette of her transformed into the same beast from the previous flashback.

The transformed Stephanie snapped the chains that were on her as if they were sticks on her.

"_And too many lives were taken from there,_" she sighed. "_Including from the one that admitted the most out of them…_"

The glass that was holding the beast inside suddenly broke into pieces as a demonic and monstrous roar came from it, as it charged towards the people.

"_That was the last time I was happy._" Stephanie sighed. "_And too many lives were taken from there. Including from the one that admitted the most out of them…_"

Black substance went all over the place, splattering against walls, floors, and against the beast, as people screamed in agony, pleading a few times, but fell to deaf ears.

"_I eventually got out of that place… but…_" the last memory showed the now future Stephanie, with steel-blue eye color instead of hazelnut, and long brown hair with wires on the left-hand side of her head, panting and covered with a black substance from head to toe, crying as black stains of tears from her left eye before curling up into a ball against the grass. "_The deed was done, and I was not going to go back there. Not after how many physical or mental scars they had left behind._"

* * *

The memory disappeared from her head, and she sighed, as some tears stream from her eyes, but there are some black tears on the left eye.

The bowl of soup in her hands was empty.

Keith had already finished his bowl during the storytelling too.

"What did they leave behind?" Thomas asked, looking and sounding concerned for her.

Stephanie hesitated for a moment, before sighing.

"They left behind the scars that damaged me, but," Stephanie gave the empty bowl to Keith and stood up to her feet, moving her pulled up hair from dangling down to over her head, before turning around, facing backward at them.

Using her right hand, she moved her low ponytail up from covering the back of her neck, while her left pulled down her back collar of her clothes.

Underneath it reveals to be a barcode, tattooed on the back of her neck, visible to everyone to see it.

There were small numbers on the bottom of the barcode, but it was faded slightly so no one could see what it meant.

The trains were surprised to see that on the back of Stephanie's neck.

Keith winced softly at the thought of getting that tattooed on the back of her neck.

"That's what they left behind?" Percy softly asked.

Stephanie nodded her head softly before moving her hands away from the back of her neck, turning back around.

"That's not all…" Stephanie sighed before glancing over at a rose bush in the woods, which is growing blue roses. "They also erased memories from my friends so that they would not remember me…"

The trains softly gasped as Keith looked surprised after he placed the dirty items away to the side.

"Even your fiancé?" Keith asked.

Stephanie sadly nodded her head, placing her hands onto her chest, feeling something underneath it.

Keith noticed she was feeling something underneath her clothes, asking, "Was your necklace the wedding proposal?"

Stephanie flinched when Keith asked that question, before sighing heavily, nodding her head.

She reaches into her clothes with her right hand and gently took out the same necklace that her fiancé gave her, which was a heart-shaped pendant with a silver chain.

Taking it off from her neck, she gently tapped the top of the pendant with her thumb, and it opened by command, revealing a picture inside.

She showed the picture to Keith and the trains, as it revealed Stephanie before she was transformed into a cyborg.

Her fiancé was standing next to her with his hands on her shoulders, smiling proudly at the camera.

But his face was faded away, so no one knows who he looked like before.

"That's him?" Thomas asked as she closed the pendant.

Stephanie sadly nodded her head, as the roots of her hair were slowly changing into a blue color.

"He was my Evy." She whimpered softly to herself. "We were supposed to be together. But… that no good 'creator' of mine took everything away!"

She clenched her hand around her pendant before crying again.

"It wasn't fair for me!" She sobbed, black tears streaming from her left eye. "I didn't do anything to deserve this! I never wanted this! I just wanted a happy family!"

Blue 'smoke' came from Stephanie's left eye as she closed them, sobbing quietly to herself.

"I never… wanted this…" she cried softly to herself, opening her eyes and glancing down at her necklace in her hand as she released it, looking at the cover.

Silence filled the air as Stephanie wiped her tears away with the back of her hand after putting her necklace back on around her neck and hidden underneath her clothes.

She used the back of her sweater sleeves, sniffing softly.

"S-Sorry." she sighed. "Since I now have intermittent explosive disorder or IED for short, multiple personality disorder or MPD for short, depression, and anxiety, I have been distant and… weird to other people."

There were sounds of movement from in front of her, sounding like someone was getting up from the ground.

Stephanie guessed they were going to leave her since she had revealed her past to them.

But, instead, she felt a hug around her, causing her to flinch slightly from the feeling.

She glanced up slightly and noticed that Keith was hugging her gently around her body.

A slightly confused look appeared on her face before being picked up from underneath with one hand behind her back.

The other arm was underneath her bottom, to support her from falling off of Keith.

He walked over to the trains and sat down next to Thomas on his front bumper.

Thomas slightly leaned his body to the side as if he was hugging her along with Keith.

"We're sorry for what you went through." Ashima softly spoke, also gently leaning her body to the side as if she is hugging her too. "We did not know about it."

Stephanie paused for a moment as she was against Keith's body, feeling warmed slightly and held by her friends.

She kept feeling this every time she was around her friends whenever she is either depressed or angry.

Absent-mindedly, Stephanie leaned her body against Keith gently, feeling exhausted from crying slightly and talking way too much.

As soon as she leaned against Keith gently to get comfortable, as Mittens curled close to her stomach on her lap, she slowly fell asleep.

She slept peacefully along with her friends, who truly cares for her no matter what traumatized event she went through.

1


	16. Nightmares

"…Thomas?" A voice called, drawing Thomas' attention from sleeping.

The sound of the voice sounded like Sir Topham Hatt's voice.

"Thomas!" He called again, as Thomas slowly opened his eyes, blinking a few times. "Wake up!"

With a jolt, Thomas woke up from being asleep, glancing around at where he was, noticing he was back at Tidmouth Sheds.

"Wh-What's going on?!" he exclaimed, shaking his head. "What time is it?"

He glanced around again and noticed that his friends were not there, even Mittens, Keith and Stephanie.

"Wh-where's everyone?" he stammered, before glancing around for Sir Topham Hatt who woke him up, only seeing he was not there. "Sir?"

Moving out of his shed, he went onto the tracks, searching for anyone that is around.

But, he only saw that no one is around, not even the workers.

His boiler bubbled with worry as he continued moving down the tracks.

"Gordon?" he called, glancing around for anyone. "Edward? If this is a prank, you got me."

Thomas waited for a moment for his friends to come out of the sheds from the 'little' prank they pulled on him.

But, they did not come out of the sheds after an hour passed.

His worries went up a notch, feeling his pistons pump with fear.

"Charlie?" Thomas called, before whistling his whistle as loud as he could, trying to get anyone's attention. "Is anyone around here?"

He continued down into the shunting yards, seeing his friends were not there either, which made him more worried than before.

"Philip?" he called, before moving towards Knapford Junction, seeing that no one was there. "Hiro?"

He went everywhere around where he remembers, seeing no one around, not even humans either.

Thomas even went outside to the Mainland, seeing no one there, even cranes too, as he went to the docks.

Now, he panicked, zooming down the tracks and heading back over to the sheds, thinking that he had not peeked inside.

When he got to his shed, he noticed that the door he was inside was still open.

As if no one had closed it when he left to look for his friends.

He looked inside when he went through the door, no one was inside, which made him panic more.

Figuring they are hiding in the back of the shed, Thomas turned his light on.

To his surprise, the end of the shed was so dark that his light would not reach.

So, he decided to go further inside to find them.

If he does find them eventually, he will scold them about the scary prank they did to him and go on the adventure by himself.

He was deep inside the now oddly dark shed, heading towards the back.

'Weird,' he thought to himself, glancing over the corner of his eye to the entrance of the shed. 'It wasn't this deeper than I expected…'

Thomas continued going deeper and deeper into the shed, thinking that whatever could be on the other side was his friends and the people who are pranking him.

But no matter how deeper he goes, there was still more darkness before him and no one else around.

Thomas' boiler continued bubbling with worry, as he glanced around for anyone that is hiding inside.

"Sir Topham Hatt?" he called, glancing around for anyone. "Nia? Lady?"

But, as he glanced at the walls again, he could see the shed had changed!

It had changed into a cave, with rock surrounding him everywhere instead of the rails he is on.

Now he was really panicking, thinking that he had gotten into more trouble.

So, he stopped moving forward, screeching to a halt.

When he stopped, he was about to go backwards to exit out of the shed that turned into a cave when he heard something that made his boiler immediately turned cold.

The noise sounded like a growl, almost as if a monster from an urban legend.

'Wh-what was that?' he thought to himself, glancing around for the source of the noise.

The growl growled again, this time, it sounded closer than before, making Thomas' body shake a little in fear.

He kept glancing around for the source of the noise until noticing something in front of him, as the sounds of something thumping the ground came closer to him.

Mentally, Thomas thought that it was just something heavy was moving from above his head when he noticed that the rumbles felt like… footsteps.

The same growl echoed through the cave again, causing Thomas' whole body to jolt from the sound, feeling more and more terrified.

Then, a thud came from in front of Thomas, causing him to look forward, only to freeze on the spot, his boiler turning cold in an instant.

His face was petrified and wide-eyed, staring back at something with shock and horror, as his face paled.

In front of him, was a monster he never saw before in his life.

It was not his hallucination or imagination, but it was real.

Because, it was inches away from his face, hissing and growling that same growl before.

It was massive than Thomas himself and covered head to toe in thick black fur, with massive sharp teeth and long canines that pokes over the pulled back lips.

The beast has long black claws, pointed ears, a black nose, a long bushy tail, standing on its hind legs, and staring right at Thomas, with enraged, ruby-red eyes, with pinprick pupils.

It hissed and charged right at Thomas, causing him to scream in fear and quickly snapped out of his frozen state, going backwards as fast as he could.

But, as soon as he thought he was reaching out of the cave, with the monster chasing right after him, the back of his wheels suddenly went over a sudden ledge, causing him to cry out and tried going forward.

He teetered on the ledge he was on, as he moved his body forward, trying not to fall back into darkness.

The surrounding scenery had changed to a spooky hillside, with no signs of grass or any people around.

The sky above him was dark and gloomy, filled with thunderstorms as the lightning thundered loudly.

"HELLLP!" He shrieked at the top of his lungs.

He whistled his whistle frantically, glancing around for any of his friends.

A growl came from inside the cave, causing him to glance forward again, shivering from head to toe in fear.

The creature appeared out of the cave, coming out in full form.

It stepped into the moonlight from between the thundering clouds, terrifying Thomas more.

The creature was taller than any human being, nor any trains that Thomas remembers.

The structure was skinny but had some muscles.

It snarled and stomped over to where he was as he watched with horror.

"S-Stay away!" Thomas shrieked, shaking from funnel to wheel in fear as it stepped towards him. "Don't come near me!"

The words fell on deaf ears as it came close to his face, snarling deeply at him.

Thomas whistled his whistle to scare it away from him, thinking it was like any animals he encounters before.

But his whistle seemed to be unfazed for the creature as it came closer to him.

Thomas felt hopeless now that it was getting close to him, ready to attack him with those claws of its.

He quickly did a prayer to himself quietly, closing his eyes and hoping everything would end swiftly.

But, instead, he heard a hiss, and he opened his eyes in startlement from the noise.

After opening his eyes from the noise, he saw the creature was moving its mouth up and down.

As if it was talking to Thomas!

"_**.reh ssorca semoc ohw enoyna ot htaed gnirb lliw ohw eno eht si ehs ohw rof ,riah gnol eht htiw lrig eht fo eraweB**_" The creature spoke, growling in its voice.

The language that the creature was speaking sounded gibberish, but the tone was scary and dark.

Thomas shuddered from the tone of the voice before the creature shoved Thomas over the ledge he was over when he was moving backwards to escape from it.

He screamed in fear as he plunged into darkness, before disappearing deep inside.

* * *

"…Thomas?" a voice asked from the distance as he started waking up from his sleep again. "Thomas? Thomas!"

With a jolt, Thomas woke up again, and this time, he was in reality, as he was face to face with a panicked stricken Stephanie.

"Are you alright?" she asked, moving her hand over to his cheek.

"I-I-I'm…" Thomas stammered as his entire body was shaking like a leaf.

He glanced around for that creature he had seen in his dream.

To his slight relief, the creature was nowhere to be seen.

It was a strange dream that he was inside.

No, a bone-chilling nightmare.

That nightmare gives him the chills whenever he remembers that creature, staring back at him with those angry ruby red eyes.

It can also keep him awake for days, too, just at how terrifying it was to him.

He shuddered in fear as Stephanie removed her hand, standing up slightly from… leaning down to his height?

To Thomas' slight surprise, Stephanie was taller than him!

Just like his nightmare!

But, he calmed down when he assured himself mentally it was just Stephanie, not another nightmare he is in.

"What happened?" Stephanie asked, kneeling down to his height. "You were in a deep sleep when we were trying to wake you up."

"I…" Thomas spoke, glancing around, and noticed the worried looks on his friends' faces, even Lady herself.

It made his wheels wobble with worry.

"We tried waking you up with our whistles," Gordon spoke, sounding worried despite not being usually concerned for people. "But, you were still in a deep sleep."

"A pretty deep one too." Stephanie nodded. "Then, your color on your face paled, and that is what worried us deeply. What happened?"

Thomas paused for a moment, glancing away to the side, before responding and glancing back in front of everyone, "I had a nightmare."

Stephanie knelt down more and asked, "What nightmare?"

Thomas' wheels wobbled a little from the memory of the creature.

"A nightmare about a creature with ruby red eyes." Thomas finally answered.

Stephanie looked lightly surprised about what he said but did not show it to any of the trains.

She placed her hands on him and seriously asked, "What does it look like?"

Thomas looked confused at first when Stephanie asked that question to him seriously.

It was also uncharacteristically for her to sound like that too.

After a while of silence, Thomas described the creature he had seen in his nightmare.

"It was big, bigger than Gordon or me! " he exclaimed.

Stephanie listened to every word that Thomas described, removing her hands from him and standing upright comfortably.

The trains listened too, shuddering slightly at the thought of finding that creature during the adventure.

Thomas described every detail the creature had before explaining what it said to him.

"I can't say what it said to me, but it was scary!" Thomas shuddered.

Stephanie was silent after he had finished before standing up to her height.

She could have stood over 12 ft tall.

"Whatever it was," Stephanie spoke, sounding gentle instead of being stern. "It was only a nightmare. It does not come true, no matter how many times you think about it. Give it time to release what it was, and keep moving forward."

Thomas puffed worriedly after Stephanie gently assured him, before using her magic to shrink back to her height.

But, he instead nodded his head as Stephanie gently patted his front buffer with her right hand.

"Alright, wait here for a moment as I cook some breakfast for Keith and Mittens, okay?" Stephanie asked, removing her hand from Thomas' front buffer.

They all nodded their heads, and Stephanie walked over to Keith, who was petting Mitten's head with his hand, as she was purring and curling her back against it as he moved down her back from her head.

Thomas still feels scared and worried about that nightmare coming true as he watched Stephanie began to cook food, glancing away to himself for a moment.

But, he remembers Stephanie's words about his nightmare that he had explained to his friends.

So, he gently calmed himself down, repeating to himself of the words she said to him.

'It was not real.' he repeated to himself mentally. 'It was not real. It was not-'

"Thomas?" Thomas opened his eyes when he heard Lady's voice, snapping him back into reality.

He glanced over to his side and noticed Lady, looking worried for him, which made his wheels wobble worriedly.

"Are you still thinking about that nightmare?" She asked.

Thomas felt like lying to her about what he was thinking of, but he sighed.

"Yes, I was." Thomas honestly answered. "But, I'm sure it was nothing to be scared of…, right?"

Lady glanced away for a moment about his question before smiling softly and looking back at him.

"Yes, there could be a chance." Lady smiled. "When I have you around with me, Thomas."

Thomas' cheeks blushed the colors of strawberries, which caught Gordon's attention, laughing softly.

"Seems like someone's in love." Gordon teased, whispering over to Rebecca next to him.

Rebecca chuckled softly and said, "I think it's quite adorable, Gordon! I even wonder what you are in love with?"

Gordon's cheeks oddly blushed a little from Rebecca's question, glancing away and coughing slightly.

"I… well… I…" Gordon spoke but fumbled with his words, which made his blush reach a shade a little.

Rebecca noticed the blush and expression on Gordon's face, softening a little glancing away.

"I… understand." Rebecca sighed, catching Gordon's attention.

"No! I," Gordon spoke, startling her a little, as he cleared his throat. "I do like someone. It's just that…"

He hesitated again as his blush went another shade.

Rebecca seemed to be a little confused from the blushing and pausing but gently shrugged it off her shoulders.

From the corner of Stephanie's eye, she watched as Gordon was fumbling with his words around Rebecca, which made her chuckle softly to herself.

It is amusing to Stephanie that he was acting like a silly around her.

But, she did not say anything about it to him or Rebecca.

After cooking food and serving it to Keith and Mittens, the trains talked to each other a few times the males would fumble on their words when talking to them.

But the females were patient with them, waiting for them to regain their usage of their words.

Stephanie, a few times, would chuckle to their silliness, but say nothing about.

Often, Stephanie could hear about how many crates they could carry, as the females would respond on how much they would move too.

Even their times when they were in their original countries where they were first created.

Percy listened to every word Nia spoke about her time back in Africa, telling him all about the animals and the celebrations too.

James talked to Emily about the paint job that he had, even talked about how he dreamt of being painted silver.

Emily told James that she does not care if he was even painted like a rainbow because she likes how he is painted.

Those words made James blush deeply, matching the same color of his coat.

Rosie was talking to Henry about how awesome Thomas was to her, on how being brave he is.

Henry told Rosie that she is brave like Thomas, and is pretty like any trains he came across.

Rosie deeply blushed when Henry said that to her, and he panicked, thinking that he had embarrassed her in front of him.

But, she gently assured him she is not embarrassed by what he said to her and accepts the compliment.

She even returns the favor to him, calling him the sweetest train she ever saw before.

Henry's face turned the color of James' paint, pursing his lips slightly.

Edward and Ashima continued talking about their countries and their branch lines.

Ashima even told Edward about elephants and how they could shunt trucks back then.

Edward was surprised to hear that, exclaiming that 'Elephants can't shunt trucks!', just like how Thomas said before too.

Stephanie was also impressed with that statement from Ashima, still watching them from the corner of her eye.

She finished her breakfast and started cleaning up, even cleaned the dishes by using a cleaning spell.

Stephanie explained to Keith about the spell, saying it can also clean the stubbornest stain too.

James absentmindedly wonders if it would work on scratches too if he gets scratched by something.

After finishing cleaning up the area, Stephanie picked Mittens up from the ground and placed her down onto Percy's front bumper.

Stephanie gently asked the trains if they would line up into a line, except not lined up like before, except in front of the females to be careful with the path up ahead.

They were puzzled and shy at first, but accepted the idea and lined up, as Stephanie connected them with their chains.

Once they were connected together, Stephanie went into Thomas' cab with Keith and Mittens, who Keith picked up from Percy's front bumper.

After getting into Thomas' cab, Stephanie gently patted his side with her hand and whistled his whistle, before moving forward to move onto with the adventure.

But, after Thomas and his line of friends left, something massive, fluffy, and black moved through the bushes, following after them.

The object moved towards the left from where they were going, heading over to the mountains.

1


	17. One Bumpy Road

After riding away from the resting area, Thomas was absent-mindedly thinking to himself about his nightmare that he had last night.

Sometimes he is so distracted, he attends to slow down a few times before being whistled by Lady behind him.

"Careful, Thomas!" Lady warned from behind him.

Thomas noticed what he was doing and sped up, blushing slightly in embarrassment.

"Sorry about that, Lady." He apologized. "I'm still thinking about what happened earlier in the afternoon."

Stephanie gently sighed and reached over to his side with her left hand while her right was holding Mittens and gently rubbed it as a way of calming him down.

"It's okay, Thomas." Stephanie softly spoke. "It was only a nightmare. Nothing to worry about."

Thomas glanced away for a moment before nodding his head, continuing his way along the tracks.

Stephanie went back inside Thomas and sat down, excusing herself past Keith as he watched out of the window.

She felt thirsty from not drinking anything after a while of sitting in the back, so she reached into her sweater pockets rummaging through them.

After rummaging through them, she pulled out a labelless glass soda bottle, that is in the color blue.

"What's that?" Keith asked, mentioning the soda from looking over his shoulder.

"It's soda." Stephanie smiled. "It's noncaffeinated, so I wouldn't get hyper easily."

"What happens when you get hyper?" Thomas curiously asked.

"Imagine me like one of those little boys who get really excited to go to a new playground." Stephanie described.

"Bouncing all around, screaming happily and running around?" Edward asked, guessing.

Stephanie thought to herself for a moment, before saying, while shrugging her shoulders, "Close enough."

Unscrewing the top of the soda bottle as it gave a soft hiss before stopped and allowed Stephanie to open it fully without it spewing everywhere.

When she opened the soda bottle, she drank the soda inside, while Keith continued looking out the window.

"Want a bottle?" Stephanie curiously asked.

"No, thank you," Keith politely answered. "I'm not the type of person for anything like that."

Stephanie understood what he meant and nodded her head.

"Okay!" she smiled. "I perfectly understand that!"

Keith glanced back out the window as Stephanie continued drinking the soda that she had pulled out from her sweater pockets.

Maybe a little too fast and had already finished it.

After finishing the soda, Stephanie sighed before covering her mouth from a small burp, before bubbling the empty soda bottle with her powers and tapped the top of it, teleporting it away into thin air.

Just after teleporting the bottle away, Thomas and his friends suddenly went over some bumps along the rails.

They bounced up and down along the way.

Stephanie, Mittens, and Keith were startled from the bouncing at first before Keith glanced out the window in confusion.

"Cinders and ashes!" Thomas exclaimed.

"What's," Stephanie paused as she covered her mouth with her right hand, forcefully gulping down a big burp. "Going on?"

Keith glanced back at her before a large bump caused Keith to collapse on the ground, holding Mittens as her claws were stuck into his overalls, while Stephanie yelped and landed on the ground, covering her mouth with her hand again.

"Oops." Thomas slowed down a little to be careful, although the bumps are a little too rough to go over them slowly. "Sorry about that, is anyone okay?"

"Other than Stephanie looked like she is about to puke, we're fine," Keith answered, as Stephanie forcefully gulped back another burp while holding her stomach.

Thomas looked surprised when Keith said something about Stephanie.

"Stephanie's going to puke?" Thomas asked.

"She looks like she is going to," Keith spoke, answering Thomas's question.

"Don't let her poke her head out of the window and puke all over me!" James complained. "I don't want her to ruin my shiny red paint!"

"Is that all you ever care, James?" Emily snapped from behind him. "Your shiny red paint over her being sick?"

"Uh, well, uh," James stammered, glancing away and blushing shamefully.

"I'm not going to," Stephanie paused again and forcefully gulped back another big burp. "Puke on anyone."

"Then, what are you going to do-?" Keith asked, before being interrupted when Thomas accidentally went over a massive bump on the tracks, causing the three passengers in his cab to be launched off from the ground and landed roughly.

That made Stephanie has no control over her burps, and outside of Thomas' cab, she burped loudly, startling the trains when they stopped after that large bump.

"Bust my buffers, what was that?!" Edward exclaimed.

Soft laughter came from inside Thomas' cab, and it was coming from Keith as he poked his head out from Thomas' window.

"False alarm, everyone." He chuckled. "I now know what is happening to Stephanie."

Everyone was confused about Keith.

"What happened?" Lady asked.

"Let me show you." Keith went back inside Thomas' cab, and there were a few minutes of shuffling around from inside.

"Stephanie, come on out now," Keith spoke, opening the door. "Show them of what was that noise you made."

Stephanie slowly came out from inside Thomas' cab, and still covering her mouth, her face and skin were different.

Her body was pink!

Stephanie's long brown hair and wires were in a magenta color, as her skin color was in the colors of salmons, while her cheeks and the tips of her ears were blushing a neon pink color.

Her eye color is the colors of flamingos, and she looked embarrassed, not looking at their eyes.

"You're pink, Stephanie!" James exclaimed as the trains were surprised too.

Stephanie's blush reached another shade, as Keith continued chuckling.

"The loud noise you heard was from her after drinking that soda bottle." Keith chuckled. "I forgot to warn you to slow down on your drinking, or else that would happen."

The trains chuckled as Stephanie glanced down at the ground, still blushing brightly.

"You look almost like the time when James had his pink undercoat." Thomas chuckled, gently teasing Stephanie, mostly James too. "Remember that time, James?"

James scoffed and glanced away for a moment, as Stephanie perked a little, removing her hands from her mouth slowly.

"Yes, I remember that!" James sighed. "I was supposed to pick the children up from the station, still in my pink undercoat! People laughed at me when I was getting them!"

Stephanie chuckled softly after removing her hands, before hiccuping, loudly.

Startled, she covered her mouth again with her hand, blushing deeply.

The trains were slightly surprised when they saw that from Stephanie before started chuckling.

"Seems like someone was stubborn enough to slow down on their drinking before Keith could say it." Thomas teased again.

"Oh, bite-!" Stephanie snapped, before hiccuping and burping. "Me!"

Everyone laughed as Stephanie continued hiccuping, and sometimes burping at the same time, blushing madly and covering her mouth with both of her hands this time.

Instead of continuing on their way down the rails, they patiently waited for Stephanie to stop hiccuping and burping.

Gordon, in the background, was biting his bottom lip as his cheeks were blushing slightly, trying to hold in his laughter.

Until Stephanie did the biggest hiccup and burp after trying to hold it inside.

That did it.

The trains laughed hard after Stephanie did that, as their whistles sounded like tweeting birds as they laughed.

Along with Keith, who was glancing away from her while laughing and holding Mittens in his arms.

Gordon finally laughed along with them, trying to glance away from Stephanie, who still continued hiccuping and burping.

Sighing, Stephanie glanced over at the reader, with a slightly embarrassed and irritated look on her face, while her friends were laughing and whistling.

"This is going to be," she hiccuped and burped. "A long time until this stops."

She groaned a little as she continued, but could not help herself but to chuckle along with the trains for her own stubbornness.

1


	18. Low On Fuel

After Stephanie got over her hiccuping and burping fit, they continued down the tracks, until they entered a forest, and into an empty yard.

But before they could exit out of the empty yard, they were oddly slowing down before stopping.

"What happened?" Stephanie asked, before looking at the coal behind her back, noticing that it was empty.

"We're low on fuel." Thomas sighed. "And I don't know if one of us can keep going to push all of us."

"I'm also empty," James responded.

"Mine too." Gordon groaned.

"We're all empty." Edward sighed.

Stephanie sighed and stepped out from inside Thomas' cab before giving Mittens over to Keith.

"Wait right here," she spoke to everyone. "Let me see if there is anyone around here to help us."

After she had given Mittens to Keith, she walked off into the empty yard, glancing around.

"Hello?" she called, cupping her hands over her mouth. "Is anyone or any trains here to help us?"

Silence only answered Stephanie's call as she waited for a moment, glancing around for anyone.

Then, something passed over from the side of Stephanie's gaze, causing her to look at the spot again.

"Hey!" She called over to the being she saw. "You over there! Can you help us?"

Nothing responded back to her question until a whistle and bell answered.

"Quit your yellin'!" A female's voice sighed. "We're comin'!"

A train appeared before Stephanie, and she moved her hands from her mouth, smiling softly.

The train is painted light turquoise with a gold cowcatcher.

Her front windows have a gold lining, and her side windows have a copper lining.

Her main body is covered in rust.

She has brass nameplates fixated on each side of her cab, and the initials "N.P.C.R.R" painted on her rear oil tank.

"Oh," Stephanie chuckled softly. "Sorry for yelling, I thought someone was inside the sheds."

"No one's inside the sheds!" The train exclaimed, proving her point as a shed collapsed behind her. "We used to be the ones here until Thomas came!"

"You know who Thomas is?" Stephanie asked, perking a little.

"Of course!" she beamed. "Thomas came here lost tryin' to get those Troublesome Trucks to the Mainland after trickin' his friend, James! "

Then, she looked confused.

"How did you know him?" she asked.

Stephanie nodded her head behind her back while jabbing a thumb.

"Because Thomas and his friends are waiting behind me to get refueled to continue on the journey," Stephanie responded.

A happy cheer came from the train as she whistled and rang her bell.

"Theo!" she called. "Merlin! Thomas' here! And he brought some friends with him!"

Stephanie perked a little when she heard those names before a shaky small train appeared next to her.

She was startled slightly but relaxed once she notices it was just another experimental train.

The train is painted grayish brown with gold lining, headlamp, and whistle.

His wheels and lower traction wheels are dark green while his upper traction wheels are a reddish-brown.

The train also carries his name, 'Theo,' on gold nameplates fixated on each side of his smoke-box.

And that train was the same one that Stephanie called.

"Oh," Stephanie smiled and chuckled. "I suppose you were the one that I called to when I first came here?"

Theo quietly nodded his head and glanced away, blushing slightly.

"Shy?" Stephanie smiled, crossing her arms over her chest.

He nodded his head again.

Then, steam and smoke swirled around Stephanie, causing her to cough.

She waves her hand in front of her face until it was all gone.

When she glanced up to see what could have created that smoke, she suddenly looked amazed by another magnificent train.

The train is painted silver with a red running board and wheels, and black smoke deflectors.

He has red and gold nameplates on either side.

His number '783' is also painted white on his front buffer beam, the side of his cab, and tender.

"Whoa," Stephanie remarked, smiling softly.

"I am Merlin." He proudly smiled. "Who are you?"

Stephanie smiled and bowed to them, placing her right hand against her chest.

"Stephanie," Stephanie responded. "Stephanie Nova Rose Allen."

When they noticed her metal hand, eye, and hair, they were surprised.

"Well, burst my boiler!" the female train exclaimed. "You're like us!"

Stephanie was startled that she glanced back up at them.

"What's that?" she asked curiously.

"Your hand!" Merlin responded as she glanced down at it. "It's made out of metal!"

Stephanie glanced back up at them and painfully smiled.

"Yeah," she chuckled, moving her hand behind her back, looking slightly ashamed for it. "I am."

The female train shook her head, before saying, "I'm Lexi, now, what happened to Thomas?"

Stephanie took this chance to switch to a different topic.

"Well," Stephanie began. "Thomas and his friends are empty on fuel and coal, so we would like to keep moving if that's okay with all of you?"

"Sure!" Lexi smiled. "But, there's no coal here!"

Stephanie was surprised when Lexi said that.

"But, there's plenty inside the Steelworks!" Lexi beamed. "Let's just go find them and bring them there!"

Stephanie clapped her hands gently and moved out of the way for them to move, as Lexi and Merlin went backward, heading towards a turntable.

Before Stephanie could keep walking, Theo came up to her side slowly.

"If you want, you could ride with me," Theo softly spoke, surprising Stephanie.

"Oh, you do talk." Stephanie smiled. "You were so quiet! But, yes, I would love to."

Theo's cheeks slightly blushed as Stephanie stepped inside, before placing her hand on the window sill.

He moved forward as he shakes, but it was not enough to knock Stephanie off her feet, but just little shakes like before when Stephanie and her friends went over those bumps on the road.

When they reached the entrance of the empty yard, they noticed Thomas and his friends, while Lexi and Merlin were in excitedly bouncing around.

"It's good to see you again, Thomas!" Lexi beamed. "It's been a while too!"

Thomas nodded his head before noticing Theo as he stopped and allowed Stephanie off.

"Thanks, Theo." Stephanie thanked, gently patting his side.

Theo's cheeks blushed again as Stephanie stepped forward, standing by Thomas' side and asked, "Who's going to be the first to pull Thomas?"

Merlin moved up before Lexi and Theo.

"Let me." Merlin smiled as Stephanie nodded her head and coupling him to Thomas.

After Stephanie coupled Merlin to Thomas, he tried moving forward but had difficulties with the other trains.

"Oops," Stephanie realized, as Merlin stopped tugging. "Wait one moment."

She walked behind Thomas and uncoupled him from Lady, before nodding her head, signaling Merlin to pull Thomas.

Merlin tugged Thomas from the line before Lexi and Theo were surprised to see Lady.

"Who's this?" Theo softly asked.

"This is Lady," Stephanie introduced. "Thomas'…" she paused as a mischievous smirk appeared on her face. "Girlfriend."

Theo and Lexi were confused, as, in the background, a large puff of steam came out of Thomas' chimney and around him.

"Why is Thomas' face all red?" Merlin innocently asked in the background.

Stephanie shrugged her shoulders gently as Lady behind her back was blushing slightly.

"Who's next?" Stephanie asked.

"Let me." Theo piped up before moving forward. "M-My name is Theo."

"Pleased to meet you," Lady greeted, as Stephanie unchained Lady from Percy. "I'm Lady."

While Theo was moving away, they both were talking to each other, while Theo was awkwardly talking to her, blushing slightly at the same time.

After Theo left with Lady, Percy was surprised to see Merlin.

"Ah, you must be Percy." Merlin softly smiled.

"How did you know my name?" Percy asked in confusion.

Merlin paused for a moment in thought before an idea popped into his mind.

"Invisibility," he spoke, beaming brightly. "On!"

After he had said that, a large puff of smoke and steam blew around Merlin, concealing him inside.

Percy coughed a few times, as the smoke slowly died down, revealing that Merlin was not there anymore.

Then, an excited smile appeared on Percy's face as he glanced around for Merlin.

"So it was you who was that invisible engine!" Percy remarked, before glancing over to his side, noticing that Merlin was right beside him.

Percy gasped in startlement when he saw him, as Merlin said, "Hello again!"

Then, a shameful blush appeared on Percy's cheeks as he glanced away from Merlin.

"I guess that whistle was not from you," Percy softly spoke.

"Nonsense." Merlin smiled before whistling. "It wasn't the same, but I am glad to meet you again."

Percy beamed again as his blush disappeared, as Merlin moved back in front of Percy, as Stephanie chuckled softly.

She knew what happened during Merlin's 'special power,' but did not tell Percy how he did it.

Once Merlin was close to Percy, Stephanie coupled the two before uncoupling Percy from Nia.

"Can you do the invisibility thing again?" Percy asked while being towed away. "I would like to do the same thing like you!"

"Maybe some other time." Merlin chuckled.

After Merlin dragged Percy from the line, Nia was left behind with the rest, as Stephanie sighed and rubbed the back of her neck.

"We are going to need more trains to help us." Stephanie sighed.

"And that's why Lexi called us to help." a voice responded from behind Stephanie, causing her to flinch.

When she glanced over her shoulder, Stephanie was surprised to see two more trains.

The train is painted red-brown with a black running board, redlining, steam pipes, and wheels.

He has brass nameplates on either side of his running board, the number "20" painted on his front buffer beam in yellow, and brass and red number plates on either side of his coal bunker.

The second train is painted blue-green and black with gold lining.

She has red and gold nameplates on either side and "M.S.C.," which stands for "Manchester Ship Canal," written above her face.

The number "4002" is written in yellow on her front buffer beam.

"Oh, thank you." Stephanie smiled before going behind Nia to uncouple her and couple the train to her.

After that, the train gently dragged Nia away, right behind Percy while Merlin was pulling him.

"Be careful with Percy's girlfriend, mister!" Stephanie cheekily called to him, before seeing a large puff of steam from Percy behind.

"Now Percy's face is red!" Merlin exclaimed. "What's wrong?"

"N-N-Nothing!" Percy stammered as they continued moving.

Stephanie giggled as the female train came up to Gordon as Stephanie coupled him to her before uncoupled him from Rebecca behind him.

"So, who are you?" the female train asked.

"I'm Gordon," Gordon responded. "The big express train and the number 4 train."

She smiled and said, "My name is Frankie and," she paused as the male train came up by her side after dropping Nia off at the Steelworks. "That's Hurricane over there."

"Pleased to meet you all," Stephanie bowed to them. "My name is Stephanie, Stephanie Nova Rose Allen."

Smiling cheekily, Stephanie mentioned to Rebecca with her hand.

"And this is Rebecca, Gordon's girlfriend," Stephanie smirked cheekily.

In the background, the biggest puff of steam erupted from behind Hurricane and Frankie, as they both looked confused as Frankie watched from the corner of her eye.

Mentally, Stephanie was expecting angry and embarrassed yelling from Gordon, but instead, silence filled the air.

Stephanie sighed and glanced over at Rebecca, whose cheeks are the colors of James' paint.

A cocky giggle came from Stephanie as she coupled Hurricane to Rebecca, as he pulled her away from the group after Stephanie uncoupled her from the next steam train behind.

"Is it true you are his girlfriend?" Hurricane asked Rebecca.

"I, uh, well, um," Rebecca stammered, unable to say the words out of her mouth as she stuttered.

Stephanie giggles cockily again as she watched the stuttering Rebecca away from the group, before looking over at James.

"Don't you even think about it." James sternly spoke as Theo came over to him after taking Lady to the Steelworks.

"What?" Stephanie grinned, as she coupled Theo to him, before walking towards Emily behind him. "Isn't Emily your-"

Before she could finish her sentences, she was rudely interrupted by Emily's whistle.

"What was that?" Theo asked.

"Nothing." Stephanie sighed after Emily stopped whistling, uncoupling James from Emily as they both mentally sighed. "Just be careful with Emily's boyfriend."

Theo looked confused as James' face blushed the deepest red she had ever seen before, as a large puff of steam came out of his chimney.

Emily was also embarrassed too.

She was blushing the color of James' bright red paint.

"Stephanie!" Emily exclaimed sternly.

"What?" Stephanie asked, glancing over at her with a mischievous smug grin on her face. "Something I said?"

"Plenty!" James snapped before being towed away from Emily.

Stephanie rolled her eyes as Lexi came, coupling her to a slightly embarrassed Emily, uncoupling her from Henry, who was blushing too.

"Is it too late to say sorry?" he asked.

Stephanie looked surprised at first, before glancing away, thinking for a moment as Merlin came.

"Maybe," Stephanie responded, coupling him to Merlin, before saying. "Although just be careful with Rosie's boyfriend."

Henry's cheeks blushed the deepest red like James, puffing a big puff of steam from his chimney.

Rosie glanced away, blushing too, as a medium-sized puff of steam came out of her chimney.

Stephanie chuckled and uncoupling Rosie from Edward, before coupling her to Frankie.

Edward knew it was his turn to be embarrassed by Stephanie, knowing this was karma for laughing at her hiccuping and burping.

As Frankie pulled Rosie away, Rosie started asking questions to Frankie about the Steelworks to get her mind off about being Henry's 'girlfriend.'

Stephanie giggled softly from the reaction before walking over to Ashima behind Edward and uncoupling her from Edward.

"Are you sure she is okay out here alone?" Edward worriedly asked.

Stephanie smirked and placed a hand on her hip, turning her attention to him.

"Edward, Edward, Edward," Stephanie sighed. "Being a papa bear over your girlfriend a little too much, hmm?"

Edward's cheeks softly blushed as Lexi came over to pull Edward from Ashima, as a medium-sized puff of steam came out of his chimney.

"Well," he spoke, as Ashima blushed too, as a small puff of steam came out of her chimney. "I… have my reason to worry about my… friend."

Edward was a little too shy to say 'girlfriend' in front of a new engine that he had never seen before, as his cheeks blushed deeply.

Stephanie rolled her eyes as she coupled Edward to Lexi before gently patting the side of his body.

"Don't worry about her," Stephanie assured. "She's perfectly fine with me. I'm a tough cookie!"

She puffed her chest out, smirking a cocky smile as Ashima chuckled softly.

Edward rolled his eyes and sighed.

"Alright, then." Edward sighed as Lexi tugged him away from Ashima.

After Edward was tugged away from Ashima with Stephanie, Stephanie glanced over to Ashima with the same smirk on her face.

"You always make that smile on your face when you are going to do something mischievous, are you?" Ashima asked, sighing.

Stephanie nodded her head, giggling.

"Just like a monkey." Ashima chuckled.

Stephanie's smile disappeared after Ashima had mentioned 'monkeys,' as a slightly sad expression appeared on her face.

"Strange." Stephanie softly spoke. "My momma used to nickname me a 'monkey.'"

Ashima softly gasped after Stephanie mentioned her mother, as Theo came over.

"What monkey?" Theo curiously asked.

Stephanie said nothing for a moment before saying, "Nothing, just an animal."

Theo shrugged to himself about the quiet moment between Ashima and Stephanie as she coupled him to her.

After Stephanie coupled Ashima to Theo, he gently tugged her away from the spot she was on, leaving Braedey behind.

Stephanie glanced over at Braedey and shrugged her shoulders.

"It's okay." He assured Stephanie. "Sometimes, it's painful to remember than to forget."

Somehow, those words from Braedey made Stephane slightly flinch as if she remembered them from someone or from herself.

But, without saying a word, she only responded with a nod of her head.

Wisely, Braedey did not talk to Stephanie as Hurricane appeared from the Steelworks in the distance.

Coupling Braedey to Hurricane, Hurricane tugged Braedey away from the spot he was resting at, as Stephanie climbed into his cab before he left.

Once Stephanie was in his cab, she watched as Hurricane lead Braedey out of the forest and into the opening, towards a large factory that is spewing smoke from the large chimneys.

'Whoa…' Stephanie thought to herself in awe. 'That's the Mainland's Steelworks? It's massive!'

Slowly, Hurricane took him inside the Steelworks as Braedey looked around with awe.

"This is amazing!" he remarked, before looking down at Theo, who was coming over from the side, looking slightly tired from pulling trains forward to refill their coal bins and their water tanks. "Are you made for this?"

"Oh, n-no, not really." Theo stammered. "I used to be in that empty place earlier before Thoams came. But when his friend James was in trouble with Frankie and Hurricane, who they were keeping James inside the Steelworks."

"Well," Stephanie huffed in slightly anger. "That's cruel of them."

"Yes," Theo nodded in response to Stephanie's huff. "But, we decided to help them after they had said no one else wanted to help them. Which is the reason why they are acting 'friendly' around new trains."

Stephanie softly smiled as Hurricane took Braedey to the coal hopper before stopping, allowing Stephanie to come out of her cab.

From the corner of Stephanie's eye, she could see that he was blushing slightly in shame for their actions.

"That's great!" Stephanie beamed. "What about that big crane back over there that needed help?"

"Who?" Hurrican and Theo asked simultaneously while raising an eyebrow.

"Oh, do you mean Beresford?" Thomas curiously asked after overhearing the conversation between Stephanie and Theo.

He was getting his water tank filled with water after his coal bin was already filled.

Stephanie cocked her head slightly before running up to Thomas' side, stopping and answered, "Yes, him."

"Well, he was alone as he was doing his job on the same spot as any other cranes would." Thomas sighed. "When I first came to the Mainland to deliver the crates that I tricked James into giving it to me, I encountered Beresford, who was acting pretty rude to me. He placed a boat right in front of me!"

Stephanie listened to his story as the Steelworks workers filled Thomas' water tank with water.

"He kept blocking my way from going to the spot where the crates are supposed to go, but luckily I tricked him," Thomas smirked.

Stephanie rolled her eyes in slight amusement, chuckling slightly.

"But before I was about to head back home after escaping from the Steelworks, I met Beresford again," Thomas continued. "He used his hook on me before I could sneak away from him."

Stephanie huffed in slight anger, crossing her arms over her chest.

'Rude of him.' she thought to herself as she continued listening to Thomas' story.

Then, Thomas softly smiled.

"But, I told him that making someone be your friend by making them stay with you isn't right," Thomas responded.

Stephanie's expression lightened a bit, with realization.

"All you have to do is to be nice to them, so they would be your friend!" Thomas beamed. "And after I told him that, he started to get along with other trains as they passed by him without being rude to them!"

"That's great!" Stephanie smiled softly. "You have a way through your words pretty well, Thomas."

Thomas' cheeks blushed slightly from the response Stephanie made, as the last steam train was filled with water.

Once the last train was filled, Stephanie climbed into Thomas' cab as the Steelworks workers coupled everyone back into line as she poked her head out of his window, along with Keith, who was still holding Mittens in his hands.

"Alright, let's keep on our adventure!" Stephanie beamed happily.

Thomas whistled his whistle along with his friends and puffed forward.

His friends whistled their whistles and rang their bells to them as they passed the exit of the Steelworks, entering another patch of a forest.

"Good luck on your adventure!" Lexi had called out to them before they disappeared into the forest.


	19. Released

But little did the steam trains know, the diesels and the human had already reached the destination they are heading at.

They entered another cave that was off-limits for anyone or any diesels or steam trains to enter.

Ignoring the warnings, they traveled farther into the cave, heading towards where they wanted to go.

Luckily, all of them had lights to see where they are going.

As soon as they reached the darkest area of the cave, they noticed the other side of the tunnel was blocked.

And it was another gate.

It was made out of black crystals and completely blocked the other side, as there were ancient Japanese carvings.

They were slightly amazed at how the gate was made out of, before getting close to it.

"Uh, boss?" Splatter spoke, asking a question after a few hours of silence. "How are we going to go through that?"

"Remember, stupid?!" Diesel 10 snapped, his pincher moved up from on top of him from command. "I have Pinchy with me! It's just easy like a piece of cake!"

"Yeah, listen to him, Splatter!" Dodge giggled in a mocking tone, as Splatter blows a raspberry at him while frowning.

"Oh, get a grip on, you two!" snapped the black diesel, moving backward and bumping into them to make them stop. "We are here to accomplish something! So, pay attention!"

The two diesels growled at each other as Diesel 10 got up closer to the gate slightly, positioning to do his dirty work.

"Now," Diesel 10 grinned, as the pincher on top of him moved up, snapping together. "Let's get down into business."

Without any command, his pincher shot forward like a rocket and gripped the gate like a crab.

Small cracks formed on the surface of the gate from the tight grip.

Once he gripped it, he tried yanking it out of the ground and from the tunnel by moving backward with his speed as the others behind him moved back to let him have room, but was firmly stuck!

Diesel 10 grunted and gritted his teeth as his wheels screeched from underneath him on the rails, trying to get the gate out.

"Come on, Diesel 10!" encouraged Diesel. "You got this!"

"Yeah, go for it, boss!" Splatter and Dodge agreed.

Diesel 10 grinned and continued trying to the best he can, his cheeks red and struggling.

Then there was trouble.

Small black electricity sparks sparked from the gate and spiked through Diesel 10's pincher, before spreading all over his body!

Diesel 10 was electrocuted from the gate and shot back as his pincher released the gate while crying out.

He crashed into the black diesel from behind him, as he bumped into the others.

"Grease and oil!" exclaimed the black diesel. "What happened?"

Diesel 10 coughed a little after being electrocuted before shaking his body.

"Nothing, Diesel!" he snapped as his pincher shook its head too. "I just… planned that!"

Diesel, the name of the black diesel, rolled his eyes along with Splatter and Dodge.

They all knew that was not planned from Diesel 10.

"Bullroar!" snapped the human from inside Diesel's cab, before coming out. "That must 'ave been magic."

The tone of the human's voice sounded like a sailor's accent.

"'Magic?'" Splatter repeated in confusion. "I thought there was no such thing as that. It's the 21st century."

"Well," the sailor spoke, mentioning to the gate as it zapped with black electricity. "Ye be lookin' at it now."

Splatter and Dodge slowly backed away from the gate, heading only a few feet away.

They are worried to be electrocuted too from the gate if they bash into it.

Diesel and Diesel 10 grumbled in anger after the gate stopped electrocuting for a moment.

"Now what?" Diesel groaned. "We can't just ram it! It'll also electrocute us too!"

An evil smile appeared on the sailor's face as he reached into his jacket's pocket and pulled out a stick of dynamite.

"Leave that t' me." he grinned.

He walked over to the gate as close as he can without touching it and placed the stick of dynamite underneath the hole of the gate, before taking out some matches, lighting the stem on fire.

Once it was lit up, the sailor quickly ran towards a safe hiding place of the tunnel, before hiding behind a rock.

The diesels all backed away from the gate before hiding behind a wall from the corner of the rails.

A massive blast erupted from the cave with a loud noise, as smoke and dust flew out.

The ground underneath their bodies shook slightly, before stopping.

The sailor peeked over the rock he was hiding behind as the diesels opened their eyes, before laughing.

"Let's see if that did th' trick." the sailor grinned.

They reentered the cave and noticed the black gate was down, but the way through the other side was really, really dark.

"Whoa," Diesel 10 remarked. "That's really dark."

The sailor struck a match and lifted it up to his eye-level, seeing it was still dark.

With one puff of his breath, the sailor blew the flame out and turned towards the diesels.

"Let's get a move on." The sailor spoke, climbing into Diesel 10's cab, before warning, "But, stay close t' each other. Thin's are nah wha' it seems in these caves."

The diesels nodded and went deeper into the caves, turning their lights on to show their way through.

They turned corners and went down short drops along the tracks, before reaching a more open area inside the cave, that is semi-filled with black crystals.

But, at the tallest top of a mountain of crystals was a cloaked human figure.

The figure was sitting on a handmade throne made of the crystals.

The sleeping figure was sleeping as he had his head dipped down slightly, but could make out his body.

He has long jet-black hair that covers his left eye and reaches down to his shoulders.

The cloaked figure also wears dark armor and a black cloak that reaches down to the bottom of his feet.

On his head was a gray crown, and behind his back, is a sword with a black handle.

Slowly, the figure woke up, noticing the diesels and the sailor as he came out of Diesel 10's cab.

"Answer my question," he loudly growled, staring down at them with cold gray eyes. "Who. Are. You?"

"I am Sailor John." the sailor answered, sounding slightly scared while bowing down to the crowned figure.

"And I am Diesel 10." Diesel 10 nervously grinned while moving his body down slightly as if he was bowing to him too. "These three are Diesel, Splatter, and Dodge."

They followed along with the two while shaking a little nervously.

He stared at them for a moment with cold eyes, before chuckling.

Slowly, he stood up to his feet and jumped from his throne, doing a superhero landing on his feet.

To their amusement, he did not crack any of his ankles or breaking his legs.

After he had landed on the ground, he slowly stood up to his full height, as his cloak covered his body around him.

To Sailor John's slight surprise and amusement, he was a foot taller than him, reaching about 8 or 9 ft tall.

"I am pleased you all freed me from my prison," he bowed slightly towards them. "My name is King Azazel, ruler of darkness."

"Nice ring," Diesel remarked, smirking slightly. "Your highness."

King Azazel chuckled and placed his hands together, glancing around at his surroundings, noticing the cobwebs and dust all around.

"How many years have passed since the battle?" he mumbled to himself.

"What are you talkin' about?" Diesel 10 asked.

King Azazel growled, turning swiftly around towards Diesel 10 with slight anger.

"The battle between Light and Dark. Don't you all know about the great battle?!" He growled, scaring Splatter and Dodge a little as they slowly backed away from him. "What year is it today?"

"Th' year be 2022, yer highness." Sailor John answered, bowing slightly to Azazel again. "'n, thar was no such thin' as th' 'Battle Between Light 'n Dark' in th' history books."

King Azazel sighed and rubbed his temple with his clawed fingers of his right hand.

"Of course," he growled. "It seemed my relative of mine had erased everything in despair over what had happened to my sister."

Sailor John and the diesels looked confused, raising an eyebrow after what he mumbled.

"You had a sister?" Splatter asked.

King Azazel glanced over at them and snarled, baring sharp canines towards them as a warning to be quiet.

"No!" he snapped, stamping his foot, which created cracks on the ground, causing them to jump a little. "I don't have a sister! She's just someone in my way."

He turned his head away and glanced down at his hand, clenching it.

"I need more power." he sighed. "I am weak after that banishment from that relative of mine."

Splatter, Dodge, Diesel, Diesel 10, and Sailor John thought to themselves for a moment, wondering a way to get his power back.

"Maybe try to find a better crystal?" suggested Dodge.

Suddenly, Diesel 10's pincher smacked him in the face, causing him to wheel backward in pain.

"No, stupid!" snapped Diesel 10. "Something else than that!"

"Maybe some powerful magic books?" suggested Sailor John.

"Where do you think we could find those, hmm?" Diesel 10 growled. "There is no such thing as magic books!"

Soon, all the diesels and Sailor John got into a heated argument, arguing over what is better for King Azazel to regain his powers.

He was back on his throne after using some of his leftover power to shrink his high throne down a little, watching the diesel snapping at each other and Diesel 10's pincher smacking Splatter, Dodge, and Diesel in the faces, as Sailor John snapped and stomped his foot in a fit.

Groaning, King Azazel rubbed his temple again, mumbling, "I'm surrounded by idiots."

1


	20. Be Prepared

King Azazel watched as the diesels argued with each other, as Diesel 10's pincher kept moving around, missing inches away from their faces after smacking them in the faces.

"I never thought diesels essential," King Azazel spoke, watching as they continued arguing. "They're crude and unspeakably plain."

He paused for a moment, thinking to himself for a moment, tapping a clawed finger against his cheek.

"But maybe they have a glimmer of potential," he smirked, revealing his sharp canines. "If allied to my vision and brain."

He chuckled before jumping down in front of the diesels, snapping them from arguing and backed away from him, startled.

Steam from underground went up in front of him, as he walked straight, smiling evilly.

"🎵I know that your powers of retention,🎵" King Azazel sang while walking around Splatter, as he watched him walking around him. "🎵Are as wet as a warthog's backside.~🎵"

"🎵But thick as you are, pay attention!🎵" King Azazel snapped, stamping his foot and make a small crater underneath, causing Splatter to glance forward, stiffening. "🎵My words are a matter of pride.~🎵"

He moved in front of his face, and using his hand, he waved it in front of his face, as he looked dazed.

"🎵It's clear from your vacant expressions,~🎵" King Azazel sang before moving his hand away. "🎵The lights are not all on upstairs.~🎵"

He walked away from Splatter and rubbed his hands together.

"🎵But we're talking kings and successions,🎵" King Azazel smirked, before hearing giggling from behind his back from Diesel and Dodge.

He stormed over to them, and startled them, as they jolted.

"🎵Even you can't be caught unawares!🎵" King Azazel snapped, before walking off, as they were startled again when a smaller geyser shot up, causing them to cry out.

"🎵So prepare for a chance of a lifetime~,🎵" He jumped towards a ledge.

Some of his long jet-black hair was in his face after he had jumped, so while singing, he moved his hair back with one clawed hand.

In the background, Dodge fell back down on the ground, screaming.

"🎵Be prepared for sensational news~!🎵" King Azazel smirked, before moving behind the rock.

King Azazel walked down the ledge, smiling proudly to himself.

"🎵A shining new era,~🎵" he smiled before going into his tippytoes, moving forward as Sailor John appears from the other side of the rock, watching him walk by him. "🎵Is tiptoeing nearer.~🎵"

"And where do we feature?" Sailor John asked, before King Azazel roughly grabs his cheek, pinching it.

"Just listen to teacher," King Azazel answered, before releasing his cheek and turning back around, as Sailor John moved his cheek in pain with his hand.

"🎵I know it sounds sordid, but you'll be rewarded,🎵" King Azazel continued singing as Diesel watched him, gently bobbing his body side to side with the music he is singing. "🎵When at last I am given my dues,🎵"

He stood up at the tallest peak and held out his hands while smiling.

"🎵And injustice deliciously squared!🎵" he sang out loud, before roughly pushing Splatter to the side, going down the tracks to the others. "🎵Be prepared~!🎵"

"Yeah, be prepared!" Dodge remarked as Splatter shook his body to get the dust and dirt off of his body. "We'll be prepared… for what?"

"The death of the light!" King Azazel snapped, glaring at the ceiling.

"Why?" Dodge stupidly asked. "Is it sick?"

"No, fool, we're going to extinguish it!" King Azazel snapped. "Along with anything that lives around here!"

"Great idea!" Splatter smirked, as Diesel in the middle looked slightly worried, but was smiling anyway. "Who needs the light?"

Together with Dodge, they both sang while bobbing their bodies side to side singing, "🎵No light, no light, lalalala!🎵"

"Idiots!" snapped King Azazel. "There will be a ruler!"

"Hey, but you said, uh-" Splatter spoke, before being interrupted by King Azazel.

"I will be the ruler, and there will be only darkness to fill the light!" King Azazel grinned. "Stick me with, and you all will never be forgotten or pushed aside ever again!"

"Woo!" cheered Splatter. "Yeah, alright!"

"Alright!" cheered Dodge. "Long live the king!"

Suddenly, more voices came from around them, revealing to be shadow knights.

They all spoke simultaneously with the diesels, "**Long live the king! Long live the king!**"

Then, all of them lined up into long lines as the crystals in the caves started to crumble, revealing to be a lost kingdom that surprised Sailor John.

With the diesels and Sailor John, who is now inside Diesel 10's cab, marched along with the lines, as the shadow knights continued with the song.

"🎵**It's great that we'll soon be connected,**🎵" the shadow knights sang as they marched forward, before saluting to King Azazel. "🎵**With a king who'll be all-time adored!**🎵"

King Azazel grinned as he watched his shadow knights saluted him, as he sat upon his throne, watching everything around him turning back into the kingdom.

"🎵Of course, quid pro quo, you're expected,~🎵" King Azazel continued singing, twitching his fingers as he watched the magic around his kingdom. "🎵To take certain duties on board.🎵"

While he was saying that last line of his song, he made a slit mention to his neck, which made Diesel, who was watching him, gulped nervously slightly while following his friends.

"🎵The future is littered with prizes,~🎵" sang King Azazel as he stood up from his throne as his shadow knights vocalized along with the song. "🎵And though I'm the main addressee,🎵"

Then, he gritted his teeth, revealing his sharp canines again.

"🎵The point that I must emphasize is,🎵" King Azazel sang, before jumping from his throne and to some of his shadow knights, as the ground underneath his feet cracked as he stomped at the shadow knight he picked. "🎵YOU WON'T A SNIFF WITHOUT ME!🎵"

Diesel, Diesel 10, Splatter, Dodge, and Sailor John flinched when he landed near them, slightly feeling relieved that King Azazel did not pick them.

Soon, the kingdom started cracking, and large spikes of more dark crystals appeared from the ground.

Slowly, it was turning the kingdom into a crystal kingdom instead.

"🎵So prepare for the coup of the century!~🎵" King Azazel, along with his army of shadow knights sang, as he was standing on a flat piece of crystal, growing up into the sky drastically. "🎵Be prepared for the murkiest scam!🎵"

"🎵Meticulous planning,🎵" King Azazel sang, as the diesels sang a different lyric of the song.

"🎵We'll be rich!🎵" they sang.

"🎵Tenacity spanning!🎵" King Azazel smiled, watching them as they followed him.

"🎵Lots of fame!🎵" they sang.

"🎵Decades of denial,🎵" King Azazel sang, as the diesels finished their half of the singing.

"🎵We repeat!🎵" They sang.

"🎵Is simply why I'll,🎵" King Azazel sang, as he was in the sky, as it was black of night, clouds swarming around where the crystal kingdom is coming up from the ground.

"🎵Endless fortune!🎵" they finished, before joining in the vocalizing with the shadow knights.

"🎵Be king undisputed,🎵" King Azazel sang, as he watched down at the creativity of his kingdom is coming. "🎵Respected! Saluted!🎵"

Then, he grinned, placing a hand against his chest.

"🎵And, seen for the wonder I am~!🎵" he beamed. "🎵Yes, my teeth and ambitions are bared, be prepared!~🎵"

Soon, the others joined on his singing, beaming brightly with the ideas.

"🎵Yes, my teeth and ambitions are bared!🎵" everyone sang. "🎵Be prepared!~🎵"

After the kingdom was finished turning into a crystal kingdom, everyone laughed evilly, indicating that evil had once returned to Sodor.

1


End file.
